Development of a heavy vehicle torque rod applying continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite materials instead of forged steel material: Design, analysis and optimization

Abstract

The torque rod is an important component of the suspension system that connects the axle to the chassis in heavy commercial vehicles. The main motivation of this study is the development of a torque rod made of (1) plus cross-section, (2) continuous carbon and glass fiber reinforced hybrid thermoplastic composites, which can replace a forged steel torque rod used in heavy vehicles, has superior mechanical properties, provides minimum cost and weight. This study aims to develop a torque rod before its production within the framework of integration with Computer Aided Design (CAD), Finite Element Analysis (FEA), and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM). In this study, the design data and the properties of the composite materials were chosen as control factors. The minimum displacement, the best mechanical properties such as tensile stress, compressive stress, torsional shear stress, maximum critical buckling load, and the minimum part weight minimum production cost per piece were selected as quality characteristics. As a result of the FEA study, considering the experimental set of the Taguchi Method L25 orthogonal array, the data on mechanical properties, weight, and production cost per piece were subjected to the MCDM process using the Entropy Weighted TOPSIS method. As a result of the MCDM study, a torque rod made of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite material, instead of a torque rod produced by forged steel, had the highest mechanical properties produced, the weight of the torque rod can be reduced by 64.76%, and the production costs per piece can be reduced by 37.5%. This study’s findings have shown that the torque rod produced from continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite materials in a new geometry with a plus cross-section can be substituted for the torque rod produced by steel forging. Thus, it will contribute to reducing the fixed vehicle weight, especially in heavy commercial vehicles, reducing CO2 emissions, and increasing the range of the vehicles.