Parts Consolidation of Automotive Front Subframe: From Two-Piece CFRP Design to One-Piece Design
2022-01-0410
03/29/2022
- Content
- As demand for fuel efficiency rises, an increasing number of automotive companies are replacing their existing metal designs with carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) redesigns. Due to the handling and manufacturing processes associated with CFRP materials, engineers have more design freedom to create complex, light-weight designs, which would be infeasible to manufacture using metal. Additionally, it is likely that by redesigning with CFRP, many steel assemblies can be consolidated to significantly fewer parts, simplifying or potentially eliminating the assembly process. When designing a subframe using CFRP materials, designers often aim for a two-piece design (top and bottom), while utilizing reinforcement material where needed. The joining of these two pieces is typically accomplished with many mechanical fasteners and adhesives, significantly increasing the part count and the manufacturing complexity. The objective of this research project is to redesign a CFRP front subframe from a two-piece design to a one-piece design, removing the need for most of the mechanical fasteners and adhesives. The two-piece design (baseline) was made as part of a separate research project where the goal was to redesign an existing steel subframe and achieve a weight reduction of 25%, with minimal reduction in stiffness. Comparing between the two CFRP designs, although the final one-piece design showed a 20% increase in compliance, it also passed the same strength validation tests performed on the baseline. Furthermore, the masses of the two designs are nearly identical. This shows that a one-piece CFRP front subframe is possible and should be further explored in the automotive industry.
- Citation
- Krsikapa, D., Jalayer, S., Dossett, W., Lee, Y. et al., "Parts Consolidation of Automotive Front Subframe: From Two-Piece CFRP Design to One-Piece Design," SAE Technical Paper 2022-01-0410, 2022, .