ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF CAR BUMPER USING HYBRID BIOCOMPOSITE MATERIAL

Abstract

A large amount of non-recyclable and non-biodegradable waste gases is being produced by the automotive sector. Automotive components made of traditional materials like steel and its alloys are heavy which lead to an increase in consumption of fuel. The Automobile industry is increasing focus on investigation of environment-friendly, sustainable and lightweight materials to replace the existing ones. Biocomposite materials are lightweight and have the potential to overcome the problems of agricultural residues and environmental toxicity. Therefore this research work is focused on pineapple leaf and glass fibres reinforced hybrid biocomposite material to be used for automotive car bumper. In this work, a bumper of Ambassador Car is designed in CATIA V5R18 and analysed in ANSYS18.1 for static and impact test. Geometric optimizations are a important parameter in structural strength improvement. Providing the strengthening ribs, changing the cross section and by increase in the thickness of bumper has increased the mechanical strength of this automotive component. For both static and impact analysis, this biocomposite material shows a lower value of deformation and higher value of strength in comparison to steel and aluminium bumpers. The results of analysis and reduction in mass of bumper prove the potential for utilization of hybrid biocomposite material in automotive structural components.