Design and Fabrication of Car Door Panel Using Natural Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites

Abstract

For a lot of years, extensive research was carried on the use of natural fibers in automotive sector to meet the environmental regulations as well as to increase the profit margins of company. Natural fibers being of low cost, recyclable and lightweight provide industry with the best alternative for traditional materials such as steel, aluminum and synthetic fiber. Applications such as car door panels, sun visors, seat covers and rearview mirrors have provided excellent scope for usage of natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites. Various car manufacturers have successfully implemented natural fiber-reinforced polymers in some of their car models in recent years and have yielded desirable results in terms of lightness, cost saving and reduction of environmental pollution. Various factors such as combinations of fibers, layer sequence, fiber-to-matrix ratio and manufacturing method influence the properties of the composite specimens. The natural fibers used are flax, hemp and kenaf. Epoxy is selected as a matrix material. Hand layup method was used to fabricate the specimens as well the car door panel. The mechanical testing was carried out to determine the tensile strength, flexural strength, hardness and impact strength according to ASTM standards. The composite with most desirable mechanical properties is chosen to fabricate the final car door panel. This paper also discusses about the optimization of influencing parameters for drilling the natural fiber-reinforced epoxy plate using Taguchi method. Spindle speed, feed rate and drill bit diameter are selected as input parameters. These parameters which influence the thrust force are measured by using drill tool dynamometer.

Understanding the impact of fiber orientation on mechanical, interlaminar shear strength, and fracture properties of jute–banana hybrid composite laminates

“…Similar trends have been found by Hossain et al [ 35 ] and Chandrasekhar et al [ 2 ] The tensile strength values vary from a maximum of 64 MPa to a minimum of 32 MPa (Figure 8C) and tensile modulus ranges from 602 to 491 MPa (Figure 8D) for all the NFHCs. These values are in line with the previous researchers Hariprasad et al [ 34 ] and Chandramohan et al [ 36 ]…”

“…Therefore, this hybrid composite can be used as a floor panel in automobile coaches (schematic shown in Figure 9A by scaling up its thickness as per the requirements by the designers. The flexural strength parameters of newly developed NFHCs in the present investigation are well suited as per the requirements stated by Ramesh et al [ 41 ] and Prasad et al [ 34 ] for fiber‐reinforced polymer (FRP) and ABS materials.…”

“…These loads are well within the expected ultimate loads on side cover panels of B‐pillar that are presently used in automotives. Thus, it is feasible to consider NFHCs for side panel covers for the B‐pillars in automotive industries, and it can reduce the usage of ABS plastics, [ 34 ] which helps us move toward sustainable and recycled materials for an ecofriendly environment.…”

“…According to Prasad et al, [ 34 ] it was stated that the impact strength of 91 J/m was used for impact testing of ABS plastic, which was normally used in bikes and cars. But, the amount of impact strength for jute–banana PF NFHCs (JB‐1) has got maximum strength of 105 J/m.…”

Natural Fibre and Hybrid Composite Thin-Walled Structures for Automotive Crashworthiness: A Review

“…For the aforementioned reasons, researchers have recently been dedicated to exploring advanced green composite structures through the incorporation of natural fibres, which are used as energy absorbers in automotive crashworthiness applications, as outlined in the following sections. NFCs have already found application in the production of various vehicle body panels, including door and window frames, columns, ceilings, seat backs, and trunk liners [104][105][106][107][108]. In the automotive industry, bast fibres like flax and hemp, along with jute and kenaf, are the most used.…”