Light-weight Design of Automotive Spring Link Based on Computer Aided Engineering

It is well known that the targeted fuel efficiency could only be achieved by more than 40% reduction of the vehicle weight through improved design and extensive utilization of lightweight materials. In order to obtain the goal of the weight reduction of automobiles, the researches about lighter and stronger spring link have been studied without sacrificing the safety of automotive components. In this study, the weight reduction design process of spring link could be proposed based on the variation of von-Mises stress contour by substituting an aluminum alloys (A356) having tensile strength of 245 MPa grade instead of SAPH440 steels. In addition, the effect of the stress and stiffness on shape variations of the spring link were examined and compared carefully. It could be reached that this approach could be well established and be contributed for light-weight design guide and the safe design conditions of the automotive spring link development.