DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE LEAF SPRING

1. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY RAJALE. R , RANA MAYARUSH

,PRAVEEN K.MALI

In this leaf spring it is simple and commonly used for the suspension in weight
vehicle .they have long and narrow plates .they are thick in middle and thin at the
end .the main objective of paper is to compare the load carrying capacity stiffness
and deflections .so, lightweight materials used are composite materials such as e-
glass ,carbon reinforcement .these are common materials and we design the leaf
spring in CATIA and calculate the static and dynamic analysis using ANSYS
software.
As the material has low stress than the mild steel .the composite material has
moderate deflection Composite material has lees weight were compared to steel
and high stiffness than the steel .Hence weight reduction the composite material
saves 80 to 85%.

2. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY DADASAHEBGAIKWAD, RAKHI

SONKUSARE, SAMEER WAGH
main focus of automobile industries .In manufacturing made up of composite
material high unspring poor ride quality .the main objective to give idea about
suitable composite materials .the introduction of e-glass ,carbon reinforcement has
In this present scenario weight reduction has been the made .it possible reduction
in weight machine element ant steel spring are replaced by composite leaf spring .
and the main criteria is to design the leaf spring in the CATIA and to analise the
static and dynamic analysis in the ANSYS .and to calculate the strength and other
mechanical properties of the material .In this steel leaf spring can be successfully
replaced by composite for weight reduction improve strength without any
modifiedto vehicles different materials e-glass gives the minimum cost .generally
gives the strength at low comparsion to other resins and have long life
 3. A LITERATURE RIVIEW BY M.VENKATESAM D. HELMEN
DEVARAJ
This project describes design and experimental analysis of composite leaf spring
made of glass fiber reinforced. The objective is to compare the load carrying
capacity, stiffness and weight savings of composite leaf spring with that of steel
leaf spring. The design constraints are stresses and deflections. Static analysis of
2D model of conventional leaf spring is also performed using ANSYS 10 and
compared with experimental results and the analytical results are compared with
experimental results. A weight reduction of 76.4% is achieved by using optimized
composite leaf spring. In this we model composite spring in CATIA and static
analysis and dynamic analysis were performed ANSYS. Later we compare the
both the basic properties with pratical and theory.
The development of a composite leaf spring having constant cross sectional area,
where the stress level at any station in the leaf spring is considered constant due to
the parabolic type of the thickness of the spring, has proved to be very effective.
A comparative study has been made between composite and steel leaf spring with
respect to weight, cost and strength .From the results, it is observed that the
composite leaf spring is lighter and more economical than the conventional steel
spring with similar design specifications. Composite leaf spring reduces the weight
by 85 % for E-Glass/Epoxy, over conventional leaf spring.

4. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY Dev Dutt Dwivedi1, V. K. Jain

Design and analysis of composite leaf spring has been done in the present paper.
ANSYS has been used to conduct the analysis. Static structural tool has been used
of ANSYS. A composite leaf spring with full length leaF. E-Glass/epoxy
composite material has been used. Conventional steel leaf spring results have been
compared with the present results obtained for composite leaf spring. E-
glass/epoxy material is better in strength and lighter in weight as contrast with
conventional steel leaf spring. A wide amount of study has been conducted in this
paper to investigate the design and analysis of leaf spring and leaf spring fatigue
life. and more over we perform the dynamic analysis of the material. Stress
generated in the E-Glass/Epoxy leaf spring,directional deformation,and also weight
is lower than steel leaf spring.

5. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY Pankaj Saini, Ashish Goel,

Dushyant Kumar

Reducing weight while increasing or maintaining strength of products is getting to

be highly important research issue in this modern world. Composite materials are
one of the material families. In this paper we describe design and analysis of
composite leaf spring. The objective is to compare the stresses and weight saving
of composite leaf spring with that of steel leaf spring. The design constraint is
stiffness. since the composite materials has high strength to weight ratio, good
corrosion resistance. The material selected was glass fiber reinforced polymer (E-
glass/epoxy), carbon epoxy is used against conventional steel. The design
parameters were selected and analyzed with the objective of minimizing weight of
the composite leaf spring as compared to the steel leaf spring. The leaf spring was
modeled in CATIA and the analysis was done using ANSYS 9.0 software. As
reducing weight and increasing strength of products are high In this paper reducing
weight of vehicles and increasing the strength of their spare parts is considered. As
leaf spring contributes considerable amount of weight to the vehicle and needs to
be strong enough, a single composite leaf spring is designed and it is shown that
the resulting design and simulation stresses are much below the strength properties
of the material satisfying the maximum stress failure criterion .

6. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY Mr.S.B.Khandagale, Mr.G.S.Joshi,

Mr.N.V.Hargude

Because of advantages of composite materials over traditional materials, use of

composite is increasing in all over engineering applications. Now days composites
are used in various sectors like aerospace, military applications, automotive
industries, marine products etc. Composite is a material that is formed by
combination of two or more materials having different properties. It is actually a
manmade material. Concrete, fiber reinforced polymers are some of the examples
of composites. In we modelled leaf spring in CATIA and analysis in ANSYS
Owing to careful study and reviewing the valuable outcomes of various researchers
it can be concluded that i) Glass epoxy composite has good potential for
applications in automotive sector replacing the conventional material. ii) In
automotive sector fatigue resistance, tensile strength, impact resistance are more
important in various applications like leaf spring etc. iii) Owing to the variation in
composition and proportion of the constituent the mechanical properties of
composites are varying and hence needed to be extensively studied for further
applications. Detailed study and analysis of glass epoxy composite which is
significant for further developments in automotive sectors is yet not attended and
addressed by researchers.
We have study the composite material (carbon fibre) for the replacement
of convention leaf spring.
2. The Composite material has the moderate deflection w.r.t. load as compare to
steel hence composite material is better than steel on base of deflection.
3. As consider the stiffness the composite material has the high stiffness than the
steel leaf spring hence it is better than steel.
4. As point of view of weight reduction the composite material saves the weight
about 80 to 87%.

7. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY GULUR SIDDARAMANNA

SHIVA SHANKAR, SAMBAGAM VIJAYARANGAN
The automobile industry has shown increased interest in the replacement of steel
spring with fiberglass composite leaf spring due to high strength to weight ratio.
Therefore; the aim of this paper is to present a low cost fabrication of complete
mono composite leaf spring and mono composite leaf spring with bonded end
joints. Also, general study on the analysis and design. A single leaf with variable
thickness and width for constant cross sectional area of unidirectional glass fiber
reinforced plastic (GFRP) with similar mechanical and geometrical properties to
the multileaf spring, was designed, fabricated (hand-lay up technique) and tested.
 The development of a composite mono leaf spring having constant cross
sectional area, where the stress level at any station in the leaf spring is considered
constant due to the parabolic type of the thickness of the spring, has proved to be
very effective;
The study demonstrated that composites can be used for leaf springs for light
weight vehicles and meet the requirements, together with substantial weight
savings;
The 3-D modeling of both steel and composite leaf spring is done and analysed
using ANSYS;
A comparative study has been made between composite and steel leaf spring with
respect to weight, cost and strength;

8. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY Mohammed Mathenulla Shariff1, N.

Sreenivasa Babu, Dr. Jaithirtha Rao
automobile industry has been showing an interest in the replacement of steel
spring with fiberglass composite leaf spring because of its high strength to weight
ratio. Therefore The the aim of this paper is to design and analyze composite mono
leaf spring of constant width and thickness having the same bending stiffness of
semi-elliptical laminated leaf spring. Stress analysis was done by using analytical
method and results obtained by analytical methods are compared with ansys. The
results obtained by analytical methods showed good agreement with ansys results.
A Tsai-Hill failure criterion was used to check whether stresses are within
reasonable levels for each ply. The stresses induced in the composite leaf springs
were found to be 33.79% less compared to steel leaf spring. When steel leaf spring
is replaced by composite leaf spring a weight reduction of 77.29% is obtained ,
2.23 times higher natural frequency, 1.371 times more strain energy storage
capacity, 33.79 % lesser stress and lesser value of spring rate is obtained in the
composite leaf spring compared to steel leaf spring.
The analytical results were compared with FEA and the results show good
agreement.
 From the results, it is observed that the composite leaf spring is lighter and more
economical than the conventional steel spring with similar design specifications.
When steel leaf spring is replaced by composite leaf spring, weight reduction
of 77.29% is obtained, 2.23 times higher natural frequency, 1.371 times more
strain energy storage capacity, 33.79 % lesser stress and lesser value of strain rate
is obtained in the composite leaf spring compared to steel leaf spring is obtained

9. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY Malaga. Anil Kumar T.N.Charyulu

Ch.Ramesh
The automobile industry has shown increased interest in the replacement of steel
spring with composite leaf spring due to high strength to weight ratio. This work
deals with the replacement of multi-leaf steel spring with mono composite leaf
spring. Suspension system in an automobile determines the riding comfort of
passengers and the amount of damage to the vehicle. The main function of leaf
spring assembly as suspension element is not only to support vertical load, but also
to isolate roadinduced vibrations. The behavior of leaf spring is complicated due to
its clamping effects and interleaf contact etc. The objective of this paper is to
replace the multi-leaf steel spring by mono composite leaf spring for the same load
carrying capacity and stiffness. Since the composite materials have more elastic
strain energy storage capacity and high strength-to-weight ratio as compared to
those of steel. It is possible to reduce the weight of the leaf spring without any
reduction on load carrying capacity and stiffness. The design constraints were
limiting stresses and displacement. Modeling and analysis of both the steel and
composite leaf springs have been done using ANSYS software.
For the modal analysis, same boundary conditions are applied and the load need
not be applied. The natural frequencies and the mode shapes are important
parameters in the design of a structure for dynamic loading conditions.

10. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY M. RaghavedraSyed Altaf

Hussain V. Pandurangadu K. PalaniKumar
This paper describes design and analysis of laminated composite mono leaf spring.
Weight reduction is now the main issue in automobile industries. In the present
work, the dimensions of an existing mono steel leaf spring of a Maruti 800
passenger vehicle is taken for modeling and analysis of a laminated composite
mono leaf spring with three different composite materials namely, Eglass/Epoxy,
S-glass/Epoxy and Carbon/Epoxy subjected to the same load as that of a steel
spring. The design constraints were stresses and deflections. The three different
composite mono leaf springs have been modeled by considering uniform cross-
section, with unidirectional fiber orientation angle for each lamina of a laminate.
Static analysis of a 3-D model has been performed using ANSYS 10.0. Compared
to mono steel leaf spring the laminated composite mono leaf spring is found to
have 4
7% lesser stresses, 25%~65% higher stiffness, 27%~67% higher frequency and
weight reduction of 73%~80% is achieved.
ted composite leaf spring and steel leaf spring with respect to weight, stiffness and
strength. By employing a composite leaf spring for the same load carrying
capacity, there is a reduction in weight of 73%~80%, natural frequency of
composite leaf springs are 27%~67% higher than steel leaf spring and 23~65%
stiffer than the steel spring. Based on the results, it was inferred that carbon/epoxy
laminated composite mono leaf spring has superior strength and stiffness and lesser
in weight compared to steel and other composite materials considered in this
investigation. From the results, it is observed that the laminated composite leaf
spring is lighter and more economical than the conventional steel spring with
similar
11. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY Ranjeet Mithari, Amar Patil
Leaf spring are of the oldest suspension component they are still frequently used.
The current leaf spring is multiple leaf spring types with a steel material. It has
high weight, low natural frequency, high corrosion, more noise. Therefore current
multiple leaf spring is replaced by mono composite (E- Glass epoxy) leaf spring
which has high natural frequency, low weight etc. The maximum stress produced
at the cylindrically joint than fixed joint. Therefore stress analysis of composite
material mono leaf spring is carried out. The result of finite element method is
verified with analytical calculation. Also compare the natural frequency by FFT
analyzer with FEA. Key words: Leaf spring, FEM, natural frequency. Under the
dynamic load conditions natural frequency and stresses of steel leaf spring and
composite leaf spring are found with the great difference. Here also the natural
frequency of composite material is high than the steel leaf spring. Conventional
steel leaf spring was found to weigh 23Kg. whereas E-Glass/Epoxy mono leaf
spring weighs only 3.59 Kg. Indicating reductions in weight by 84.40% same level
of performance. Conventional Leaf spring shows failure at eye end only.
Composite leaf spring can be used on smooth roads with very high performance
expectations. However on rough road conditions due to lower chipping resistance
failure from chipping of composite leaf spring is highly probable. That is the
composite leaf spring is having greater vibration absorbing capacity than
conventional steel leaf spring. Also the stress of composite leaf spring is higher
than conventional steel leaf spring. Because of using only mono leaf spring space
also reduced. The corrosion resistance of composite leaf spring is higher i.e. it will
work
12. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY SORATHIYA MEHUL,
DHAVAL B. SHAH, VIPU L BHOJAWALA

The Automobile Industry has shown increase interest for replacement of steel leaf
spring with that of composite leaf spring, since the composite material has high
strength to weight ratio, good corrosion resistance and tailor-able properties. The
paper describes static analysis of steel leaf spring and laminated composite Multi
leaf spring. The objective is to compare the load carrying capacity, stiffness and
weight savings of composite leaf spring with that of steel leaf spring. The
dimensions of an existing conventional steel leaf spring of a Light design
calculations. Static Analysis of 3-D model of conventional leaf spring is performed
using ANSYS 11.0 and hyper mesh. Same dimensions are used in composite multi
leaf spring using carbon/Epoxy and Graphite/Epoxy unidirectional laminates. The
load carrying capacity, and weight of composite leaf spring are compared with that
of steel leaf spring. The design constraints are stresses and deflection. A weight
reduction of 79.617 % is achieved by using composite leaf spring. And if consider
Mono leaf spring then Weight reduction is achieved 90.09%.

A Comparison has been made between laminated composite leaf spring & steel
spring having same design and same load carrying capacity. From that 79.617 %
weight reduction in composite material has been achieved for same number of
leaves. If we consider mono composite leaf spring then weight reduction achieved
up to 90.09

13. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY Dr.RAMANA REDDY,B.

SUBBARATNAM, MANOJ KUMAR PERALA KALYAN
PRANEETH
Composite materials are extensively used in many engineering applications due
to high strength and stiffness to weight ratio. The Automobile Industry has great
interest for replacement of steel leaf spring with that of composite leaf spring,
the composite materials has high strength to weight ratio, good corrosion
resistance. In this paper, the design and analysis a composite leaf spring and
compared with a standard steel leaf spring. The materials selected are Epoxy
glass, Epoxy carbon, Aluminum Alloy, Titanium Alloy is used against
conventional steel leaf spring. The design parameters are selected and analyzed
with the objective of comparing Stress, Deformation, Elastic Strain and Weight
of the composite leaf spring as compared to conventional steel leaf spring. The
leaf spring was modeled in CATIA and the analysis was done in ANSYS
software.
The design and static Analysis of steel leaf spring and Composite leaf spring
has been carried out in this present work. Comparison has been made between
composite and steel leaf springs under the same load conditions. The Stress,
displacement and weight have been calculated analytically and compared with
FEA results. The results obtained from the Ansys and theoretical values, it has
been concluded that all the composite leaf springs have better displacement,
stresses and weight compared to the conventional steel leaf springs

14. A LITERTURE REVIEW BY J. M. Corum, R. L. Battiste, W. Ren

and M. B. Ruggles
- Because of advantages of composite materials over traditional materials, use of
composite is increasing in all over engineering applications. Now days composites
are used in various sectors like aerospace, military applications, automotive
industries, marine products etc. Composite is a material that is formed by
combination of two or more materials having different properties. It is actually a
manmade material. Concrete, fiber reinforced polymers are some of the examples
of composites the tensile properties of glass epoxy composites. The researchers all
over the world have worked in this regards for different composites and various
applications.

Owing to careful study and reviewing the valuable outcomes of various researchers
it can be concluded that i) Glass epoxy composite has good potential for
applications in automotive sector replacing the conventional material. ii) In
automotive sector fatigue resistance, tensile strength, impact resistance are more
important in various applications like leaf spring etc. iii) Owing to the variation in
composition and proportion of the constituent the mechanical properties of
composites are varying and hence needed to be extensively studied for further
applications. Detailed study and analysis of glass epoxy composite which is
significant for further developments in automotive sectors is yet not attended and
addressed by researchers.

15. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY Dr. P. Ravinder ReddyDr. P.

Ramalakshmi K. Niranjan Kumar

The main moto of this to increase the efficiency and to reduce the weight as now a
days composite materials are light weight and very useful to develop the
automobile industries. In this composite leaf spring is being conduct experiment on
composite leaf spring is modelled in CATIA and analysis is done in ANSYS and
later on we compare both steel spring and composite leaf spring and both statical
and dynamic analysis is done the materials used are carbon reinforcement ,e-glass
As the experiment completed we get composite are lighter in weight , more
strength efficiency than stel springs .
A LITERATURE REVIEW BY H.A khande , Vaishnavi Dhumal ,
Ganesh vanve
Nowadays automobile industries are showing great interest in composite material
rather than conventional materials due to its high strength to weight ratio, high
strain energy storing capacity and corrosion resistance. Reducing the weight and
keeping the same load carrying capacity and strength is becoming one of the
important research issues today.. The material selected is glass fiber reinforced
polymer (E-glass/epoxy) against conventional leaf spring (steel) it is design and
analyzed by minimizing the weight. The main objective of this paper is verifying
the results using ANSYS 12.1 and modeling in CATIA V5 software and showing
stress and deflection results by theoretical calculations.
Composite leaf spring has high strength low weight high stress,low cost .
16. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY D. Lydia Mahanthi, C. Venkata
Siva Murali
In recent year automobile industries are mostly concentrating on weight reduction
and in improving the riding quality. To reduce vehicle weight, three techniques
have been studied rationalizing the body structure, utilizing light weight materials
for parts and decreasing the size of the vehicles. In this approach by introducing
composite materials into automobile industries, which is having low cost, high
strength to weight ratio and excellent corrosive resistance can fulfill the
requirement. The suspension leaf spring is one of the potential entities for weight
reduction in automobiles as it results in large unstrung mass. The introduction of
fiber reinforced plastics (FRP) is used to reduce the weight of the product without
any reduction on load carrying capacity and spring rate.
17. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY Miss. Payal S. Tajanpure Dr. S.
N. Shelke

The fuel efficiency and emission gas regulation of automobiles are two important
issues now a day. The best way to increase the fuel efficiency is to reduce the
weight of the automobile. This project work focus on weight optimization of mono
leaf spring used in the automotive vehicles. The goal of the present work is to
design, analyze, fabricate and testing of unidirectional E-Glass Fiber / Epoxy /
Thus this work focuses on the experimental investigation of mono suspension leaf
spring of Maruti Omni which is tested mechanically for compression test on UTM.
• From the chemical test the chemical composition is determined which confirms
the existing material for spring is EN47 chromium vanadium steel.
• With Hand layup method the composite spring carbon glass fibre is manufactured
and tested successfully.
• From the Analytical Analysis it is observed that the deformation for new
composite leaf spring is less as compared to conventional spring.
• Thus the new material can be used in automotive suspension application.

18. A LITERATURE REVIEW Mahmood M. Shokrieh , Davood

Rezaei

A four-leaf steel spring used in the rear suspension system of light vehicles is
analyzed using ANSYS V5.4 software. The finite element results showing stresses
and deflections verified the existing analytical and experimental solutions. Using
the results of the steel leaf spring, a composite one made from fiberglass with
epoxy resin is designed and optimized using ANSYS. Main consideration is given
to the optimization of the spring geometry. The objective was to obtain a spring
with minimum weight that is capable of carrying given static external forces
without failure. The design constraints were stresses (Tsai–Wu failure criterion)
and displacements. The results showed that an optimum spring width decreases
hyperbolically and the thickness increases linearly from the spring eyes towards
the axle seat. Compared to the steel spring, the optimized composite spring has
stresses that are much lower, the natural frequency is higher and the spring weight
without eye units is nearly 80% lower
The steel leaf spring was replaced with an optimized composite one. Main
consideration was given to the optimization of the leaf spring geometry. The
objective was to obtain a spring with minimum weight that is capable of carrying
given static external forces by constraints limiting stresses (Tsai–Wu criterion) and
displacements. The results showed that the optimum spring width decreases
hyperbolically and the thickness increases linearly from spring eye towards the
axle seat. The stresses in the composite leaf spring are much lower than that of the
steel spring. Compared to th e steel leaf spring (9.2 kg) the optimized composite
leaf spring without eye units weights nearly 80% less than the steel spring. The
natural frequency of composite leaf spring is higher than that of the steel leaf
spring and is far enough from the road frequency to avoid the resonance. To join
the spring to the vehicle body, an additional lay up was used on the spring end and
the steel eyes were mounted through bolts

19. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY V. POZHILARASU,

T.PARAMESHWARAN PILLAI

Increasing competition and innovation in automobile sector tends to modify the

existing products by new and advanced material products. A suspension system of
vehicle is also an area where these innovations are carried out regularly.Leaf
springs are one of the oldest suspension components that are being still used
widely inautomobiles. Weight reduction is also given due importance by
automobile manufacturers. The automobile industry has shown increased interest
in the use of composite leaf springin the place of conventional steel leaf spring due
to its high strength to weight ratio. The introduction of composite materials has
made it possible to reduce the weight of the leaf spring without any reduction in
load carrying capacity and stiffness. Therefore the objective of this paper is to
present a general study on the performance comparison of composite (Glass Fibre
Reinforced plastic - GFRP) leaf spring and conventional leaf spring. Leaf spring is
modelled in Unigraphics NX4 software and it is imported in ANSYS 11.0. The
conventional steel leaf spring and the composite leaf spring were analysed under
similar conditions using ANSYS software and the results are presented
Under the same static load conditions deflection and stresses of steel leaf spring
and composite leaf spring are found with the great difference.
Deflection of composite leaf spring is less as compared to steel leaf spring with
the same loading condition.
Bending stress is also less in composite leaf spring as compared to steel leaf
spring with the same loading condition.
Conventional steel leaf spring is also found to be heavier then E-Glass/Epoxy
mono leaf spring.
Composite leaf spring can be used on smooth roads with very high performance

20. A LITERATURE REVIWEW BY Bairagoni Naresh, Ch. Sunil,

Gujja Sunil Kumar

A leaf spring is a long, flat, thin and flexible piece of spring steel or composite
material that resists bending. The basic principles of leaf spring design and
assembly are relatively simple and leaves have been used in various capacities
since medieval times. Most heavy duty vehicles today use two sets of leaf springs
per solid axle, mounted perpendicularly to the axle and supporting the vehicle's
weight. This system requires that each leaf set act as both a spring and a
horizontally stable link. In this paper Steel and composite leaf springs are designed
in catia and analysis has been done by using Ansys and the results are compared.

The 3-D modeling of both steel and composite leaf spring is done and analyzed A
comparative study has been made between composite and steel leaf spring with
respect to deflection, strain energy and stresses. From the results,
1. This work provides optimum values for design variables (leaf spring thickness
and width) of hybrid composite leaf spring by using Finite Element Analysis. 2.
Weight can be reduced by 55% if steel leaf spring is replaced by
Jute/EGlass/Epoxy hybrid composite leaf spring. Weight reduction reduces the fuel
consumption of the vehicle.
3. At various loading conditions, hybrid composite leaf spring is found to have
less stresses and deflections.

21. LITERATURE REVIEW BY Prof. N.P.Dhoshi1, Prof .N.K.INGOLE, Prof

.U.D.GULHANE
The leaf spring used in tractor trailer without much economical and technical
consideration. In the present work improvement areas where one can improve the
product quality while keeping the minimum cost. In the present work analytical
and Finite element method has been implemented to modify the existing leaf
spring with consider the dynamic load effect. Leaf spring manufactured by
Awachat industries Pvt. Limited has been selected for stress analysis. One of the
important areas where one can improve the product quality while keeping the cost
low is the design aspect. One can design the product in such a way that its
performance increases while the customer has to pay less as compared to the same
product of other companies. Material and manufacturing process are selected upon
on the cost and strength factor whereas the design method is selected on the basis
of mass production. FEM and ANSYS software ensures a healthy approach of
designing the leaf spring thus epitomizing the traits that are essential for the
manufacturing.
The project illustrates the importance of analytical and micro-analysis. FEM
analysis is done in ANSYS 11.0 and the project shows the importance of Stress
analysis. On reducing the number of leaf spring from 17 to 13will further reduce
the weight by approximately 6kg and the production cost by nearly 20%. The
project highlights the need of FEM analysis in industries ranging from small scale
to large one, as this will reduce cost also it will improve accuracy
22. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY Rajagopal D, Varun S, Manikanth
M, Bysani Somasai Sriram Kumar

Automobiles today are over 63% iron and steel by weight .With rising energy and
environmental concerns, as well as increases in electronics and other on-board
vehicle systems. Vehicle light-weighting continues to be a prominent concern for
vehicle manufacturers. New structural materials - metals, ceramics, polymers or
hybrid materials derived from these, called composites – open a promising avenue
in automobile industries. This paper describes design and experimental analysis of
3. composite leaf spring made of glass fiber reinforced polymer. The objective is to
compare the load carrying capacity, stiffness and weight savings of composite leaf
spring with that of steel leaf spring and describes the significant economic
potential of polymer composite and to replace automobile components (leaf
Spring) against the steel. The study demonstrated that composites can be used for
leaf springs for light weight vehicles and meet the requirements, together with
substantial weight savings. The future potential for composites in these types of
applications is discussed in terms of the fabrication developments which appear
likely in the next decade. It is necessary to study the usage of composites in
improving the performance and efficiency of these automobile components

23. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY Ganesh R. Chavhan1*, Pawan V. Chilbule

The weight reduction can be achieved primarily by the introduction of better

material, design optimization and better manufacturing processes. The
achievement of weight reduction with adequate improvement of mechanical
properties has made composite a very good replacement material for
conventional steel. The automobile vehicles have number of parts which can be
able to replace by composite material, but due to the improvement of
mechanical properties of composite material. It has more elastic strength and
high strength to weight ratio has compared with those of steel material. So, out
of many components one of the components of automobile, the leaf spring
which use for carried out the whole weight of the vehicle is best option for
replacement of steel material by composite material. The design and static
structural analysis of steel leaf spring and composite leaf spring has been
 carried out. Comparison has been made between composite leaf spring with
steel leaf spring having same design and same load carrying capacity

24. A LITERATURE REVIEW BY Pratiksha Padmakar Shahane, Syed

Aalam H

A leaf spring is a simple form of spring, commonly used for the

suspension in wheeled vehicles. Leaf Springs are long and narrow
plates attached to the frame of a trailer that rest above or below the
trailer's axle. For safe and comfortable riding, to prevent the road
shocks from being transmitted to the vehicle components and to
safeguard the occupants from road shocks it is necessary to determine
the maximum safe stress and deflection. The objective is to find the
stresses and deformation in the leaf spring by applying static load on
it. These values are calculated analytically, by using finite element
analysis and experimentation. Therefore in the present work, leaf
spring is designed by considering static load on vehicle. The model of
leaf spring is created in CATIA V5 and analysis is done using
ANSYS 14.5 workbench
Leaf spring is a device which is used in suspension system to
safeguard the vehicle and the occupants. To prevent the road shock
from being transmitting to vehicle component and to safeguard the
occupants for comfortable riding, it is necessary to determine the
maximum safe stress and deflection.