Advisory Committee Chair
Selvum Pillay
Advisory Committee Members
Alejandra J Monsivais
Charles A Monroe
Haibin Ning
Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2017
Degree Name by School
Master of Science in Materials Engineering (MSMtE) School of Engineering
Abstract
Composite materials, especially thermoplastics, are now used extensively in the automotive industry to replace metal components. Three different glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites were compared to obtain an equivalent performance of a steel leaf spring. Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol (PETG), Polyamide 66 (PA 66) and Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS) were the matrices considered for this research work. Mechanical testing (tensile, compressive, shear, flexural and moisture absorption) was performed to these three thermoplastic composites concluding that PPS is the best choice since it displayed the best overall properties. Once PPS was selected, a Design of Experiment (DOE), based on three level (3^k) factorial design, was conducted to define the best processing parameters and their effect on the flexural properties of glass fiber reinforced Polyphenylene Sulfide (GFR-PPS). Finally, a modification in the architecture of the fiber in the layup was made in ANSYS to define the best arrangement that could withstand not only vertical deflection but also lateral deflection. Two arrangements were simulated and five different fiber angle orientations (0°, 15°/-15°, 30°/-30°, 45°/-45° and 90°) were modeled. Keywords: thermoplastic, fiber, PPS, PETG, PA6/66, spring
Recommended Citation
Munoz, Marvin Alejandro, "Characterization of Thermoplastics for Leaf Spring Application" (2017). All ETDs from UAB. 2539.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/2539