Durability of composites in automotive structural applications

摘要

The overall goal of the project is to develop experimentally-based, durability-driven design guidelines for automotive composite structures and to demonstrate their applicability to lightweight, manufacturable structures under representative field loading histories and environments. Key technical issues are the potentially degrading effects that (1) both cyclic and long-term sustained loadings, (2) various automotive environments, and (3) low-energy impacts can have on the dimensional stability, strength, and stiffness of automotive composite structures. The purpose of this paper is to present the findings and observations developed to date and to outline future directions.