Enactment of Fiber Reniforced Hybrid Epoxy Composite for Passenger Car Bumper Beam

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering, Mylavaram, AP, India
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vasireddy Venkatadri Institute of Technology, Nambur, Guntur, AP, India
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Vaddeswaram, Guntur, AP, India
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering and Technology, Bachupally, Telangana, India

Corresponding author: v.sankar@lbrce.ac.in

Abstract

These days, fuel economy and emission petrol control of passenger vehicles are two critical challenges. The most effective approach to improve fuel efficiency with the front and rear parts of a vehicle are equipped with bumpers, which are crucial in low-speed collisions because they serve as low-speed energy absorbers. Sacrificing safety is to employ fiber reinforced composite materials in the body of cars. The fascia is a major element that is designed to absorb abrupt or impact loads that are imparted to automobiles either purposefully or accidentally. The objective for the incorporation of the bumper is when a collision suspends a vehicle to abrupt or impact loads, it is employed to absorb crash energy and is beneficial again for safety of the driver passengers as well as for the vehicle. In this work, a novel composite bumper beam which will be made of hybrid (natural and synthetic) fiber epoxy composite material embedded with multi walled carbon nanotubes to improve the bending stiffness. The major goal of the current investigation is to determine the impact of nano carbon tubes on the mechanical characteristics of jute/glass/epoxy hybrids and banana/glass/epoxy hybrids. The samples manufactured using a hand layup method and a variety of stacking sequences. Experimentations for three quasi-static 3-point bending test as well as fracture toughness will be conducted. Also, water absorption capability in reinforced materials will be measured. Based on the results, the bumpers are proposed for the Indian passenger cars.