Composite side-door impact beams for passenger cars

摘要

The fuel efficiency and emission gas regulation of passenger cars are two important issues nowadays. The best way to increase fuel efficiency without sacrificing safety is to employ fibre-reinforced composite materials in the body of cars because fibre-reinforced composite materials have higher specific strengths than those of steel. In this study, the side-door impact beam for passenger cars was developed using glass-fibre-reinforced composite materials as metals usually have a lower capacity of impact absorption energy at low temperature compared with that of glass-fibre-reinforced composite materials. Static tests were carried out to determine the optimum fibre stacking sequences and cross-sectional thickness for the composite impact beams taking consideration of the weight saving ratio compared to the high strength steel.