Design, manufacturing and evaluation of glass/polyester composite crash structures for lightweight vehicles

• Published in: International journal of automotive technology Vol. 17; no. 6; pp. 1013 - 1022
• Main Authors: Esnaola, A., Ulacia, I., Elguezabal, B., Del Pozo De Dios, E., Alba, J. J., Gallego, I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul The Korean Society of Automotive Engineers 01-12-2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Automobile industry; Automobiles; Automotive Engineering; Composite materials; Crashes; Crashworthiness; Curing; Design analysis; Energy; Energy consumption; Engineering; Feasibility; Impact strength; Manufacturing; Mathematical models; Numerical controls; Polyesters; Production capacity; R&D; Research & development; Statistical analysis; Traffic accidents & safety; Vehicles; Crash; Specific energy absorption; Numerical model; Pultrusion
• ISSN: 1229-9138; 1976-3832
• DOI: 10.1007/s12239-016-0099-5

The development and validation of a modular composite impact structure is presented in the present paper. Quasi-static and dynamic impact tests of the composite components and a full frontal crash test of a vehicle prototype with composite impact structures manufactured by a new UV-pultrusion process have been performed. The results have demonstrated the feasibility of composite impact structures for crash applications with high specific energy absorption values compared with current metallic crash structures. Furthermore, due to the high production capacity of this new manufacturing process, cost-effective composite impact structures for mass-production of conventional cars may be feasible. Finally, a multimaterial numerical model as design tool for crashworthiness applications has also been validated. Different accelerations measured in the crash test have been accurately predicted as well as the crash behaviour of the composite impact structures.