Natural sisal fiber-based woven glass hybrid polymer composites for mono leaf spring: Experimental and numerical analysis

Abstract

Reducing weight and stabilizing or upgrading the strength is more important. Automotive and related industries are making a progress to replace the conventional steel leaf spring to composites material made from glass fibre, natural fibres, and so on. In this study, woven E-glass fibre, woven sisal and hybridization of woven glass and sisal fibre have been selected as materials. The resin used in this study is epoxy (B-11(3101)) VHV and the hardener is (K-6(5205)). The mono leaf spring is fabricated using hand lay-up process, which tends to be simple and cost effective. The existing dimensions of a conventional Tata Ace leaf spring are selected for modelling and analysis. Stress and deflection is tested experimentally by flexural testing. The hardness of the composites is determined with the help of Rockwell and Brinell hardness testing machine and the values are correlated with each other. Leaf spring is modeled in CREO Parametric 2.0 and introduced in ANSYS 14.5 for the numerical analysis. The results suggest that the composites have reduced weight up to 75% in comparison with the conventional one. With reduced component weight and better performance achieved by composite material, the replacement of conventional material with that of the composite is efficient. The efficiency of a vehicle will improve with a reduced component cost when composite leaf spring is used.

Keywords

Glass fibre sisal fibre leaf spring ANSYS numerical analysis

Introduction

The better upgraded technologies in the automobile sector have forced an evolution in modifying the existing component by a better advanced material. Suspension system of an automobile is a field, where these ideas and new technology can be implemented. This enhances the vehicle with better weight reduction, which leads to better fuel-efficient performance and enhanced riding qualities.

To ensure the demands of the economy in this modern world, automobile manufacturers made an attempt to diminish the weight in automobiles. The leaf spring with the E-glass/epoxy composite provides good load-carrying capabilities and stiffness.¹ It has been established that leaf spring made of composites has stress which is lower and the natural frequency is greater than the steel leaf spring.² Preloaded liquid spring/dampers loaded heavily by selecting suitable spring dimensions and orifice sizes with proper fixed load reduce the thermodynamic and strain-rate dependent damping phenomena.³ The comparison of properties with steel leaf spring under Finite Element Analysis (FEA) shows that weight is reduced by 84.50% at unchanged performance level.⁴ A mono leaf spring from E-glass fibre was prepared and has been put into test for stationary load conditions, implying its purpose in the replacement of conventional material with composite material.^5,6 A relative study amid steel and carbon/epoxy leaf spring suggests that composite has good strength and stiffness and slighter in mass than that of steel leaf spring.⁷ Tension, compression, cyclic and torsion tests are experimented for carbon, glass and glass/carbon epoxy composite semielliptical suspension spring through its principal direction. The type of fibre and its ellipticity proportion ominously influence the spring stiffness.⁸ Enhancement of mechanical properties up to 4% is identified for sisal/glass epoxy composite having different weight proportions of sisal fibre after chemically treated by acetone.⁹ Weathering conditions pull down the mechanical properties when exposed at different time intervals for kenaf/glass fibre hybrid composite.¹⁰ Bagasse/sisal fibre stacking sequence of hybrid epoxy composites is found to have a good impact on the enhancement of mechanical properties.¹¹ Chemically treated unsaturated polyester/kenaf fibre composite with different proportions is found to have an increment of mechanical properties than untreated, and it is also evident that a higher concentration of chemical treatment affects the fibre.¹² Alkali and silane treatment shows a negligible amount of improvement and does not have any significant effect on mechanical properties.¹³ With detailed analysis, it is observed that totally, the stresses are in permissible restrictions with a good factor of safety. On observing longitudinal orientations of fibres in the laminate, it is revealed that it offers decent strength toward leaf spring.^14,15 On applying the genetic algorithms, 75.62% mass reduction is accomplished when a seven-leaf steel spring is swapped by mono leaf composite spring under the same criteria.¹⁶ It can be observed that material manufactured from E-glass/epoxy has a much less value of modulus and density than steel, results in higher specific strain energy capacity and shows a higher value of deflection and strain energy than the steel material.¹⁷ The structural stress for steel and E-glass with constant and variable thickness leaf spring is used to attain the required strength.¹⁸ The numerical analysis of leaf spring using unidirectional E-glass/epoxy ensures 67.35% less stress and 76.4% less weight¹⁹ and has a good strength-weight ratio, possesses low specific gravity and corrosiveness property.²⁰ The detailed examination of mono leaf spring under stationary condition with different composition is studied. It is observed that major composites are not established for swapping the steel leaf spring. E-glass and kevlar with epoxy produce an extra deflection when associated with steel. When spatial criteria are considered, these composites will not be able to suit the required conditions in exchanging steel. It is observed that boron aluminum produces less deflection when linked with other composites and further it was noted that graphite epoxy, carbon epoxy and kevlar epoxy produce higher stress when related to steel.²¹

The aim of the current work is to design, propose and produce a glass, sisal fibre and its hybrid epoxy composite leaf spring, which would satisfy the required strength and stiffness with reduced weight.

Materials

Most of the industries are manufacturing conventional leaf spring with EN 47 steel material, which was broadly employed in producing parabolic and multileaf spring. As discussed earlier, leaf spring has the ability to absorb abnormal vibrations, shocks and bumps, which occur as a result of dissimilarities in the road surface. The capacity to restore and absorb greater strain energy guarantees the comfortable suspension system to be used in the automobiles. Composites consist of ‘matrix phase’, which is represented as sheets, particles or fibres and is implanted in supplementary material known as the ‘reinforcing phase’. Most of the composites exhibit good strength and modulus. Composite materials are superior because they possess lower specific gravities and strength-to-weight ratio to those of metallic materials. The fatigue properties are exceptional. With those details, fibre composites have arisen as superior structural materials, which can be considered as replacements for conventional material. An additional inimitable characteristic of numerous fibre-reinforced composites is its great internal damping capacity.

Composites generally produce enhanced energy absorption of vibration inside with greater capacity of damping, composite materials have its use in the field of automotive, which eventually suppresses noise, vibration and hardness. Leaf spring material cost offers nearly 70% of automobile price, which donates to the quality and the performance of automobile. Reduction in mass of automobile induces a broader and greater financial value. Composite materials prove themselves as appropriate alternatives for steel in accordance with a decrease in weight of automobile. The usually used fibres are carbon, glass, Kevlar, and so on. Amid those, natural fibre such as sisal is also making their progress for the replacement of an automotive part. Sisal fibre is found abundantly in urban areas of South India particularly in the southern part of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. The fibre selected in this experiment is woven glass, woven sisal and the combination of both sisal and glass as a hybrid fibre. The selection of glass fibre is because of its low cost. Glass fibre possesses high chemical resistance, excellent strength and decent insulating properties. Limitations that occur while using glass fibres are small modulus of elasticity, reduced adhesion to polymers, high density and low fatigue strength. Crack detection also becomes difficult. The E-glass fibre in woven roving weighs 360 g/m². The natural fibre selected in this experiment is sisal, which has good strength and corrosion-resistant properties. The limitation of using sisal fibre is that the production of natural fibres in today’s world is limited. The sisal fibre in woven roving weighs 358 g/m². The hybrid fibre which is a combination of both sisal and glass fibres increases the strength, reduces the weight and possesses good crack arresting property.

Epoxy resin is considered for fabrication, which provides better strength, bonding characteristics and possesses a higher grade than other thermoset resins, The epoxy resin selected is (B-11(3101) VHV) and hardener is (K-6(5205)), which has a density of 1.16 g/cm³ at room temperature with ASTMD-4052. The volume ratio of resin to hardener is determined as 10:1 for better dimensionally stable laminates with free residual internal stresses.

Fabrication of composites

The fabrication procedure starts with the preparation of a pattern in which the layers of fibre can be applied with resin to form a laminate of mono leaf spring and its constraints are presented in Table 1. The woven glass fibre and woven sisal fibre rovings are marked at consistent intervals of 50 mm (width of leaf spring), which are then cut into preferred length from 1 m² rovings. The weight of one layer of woven glass fibre is 0.030 kg and that of one layer of woven sisal fibre is 0.010 kg. The pattern is created to accommodate the fibre layers to form the desired camber of length 100 mm with a required thickness of 10 mm. Hand lay-up technique is used for fabrication.

Table 1.

Dimensions of the leaf spring.

Constraints	Value (mm)
Master leaf spring length	965
Free camber	100
Thickness	10
Width	50

Glass fibre laminate

Initially, the Mila sheet, that is, polythene sheet of required dimensions is placed, and then the application of resin is done gently to form the first layer. Additional roving of woven glass fibre is positioned with the help of a hand roller and pressed to eliminate entangled air. Supplementary layers are positioned and resin is smeared alternatively and the technique is reiterated for 12 layers of woven glass fibre to acquire the thickness of 10 mm of the leaf spring. The leaf spring is permitted to harden and cure at room temperature. Then, the woven glass fibre laminate is removed from the pattern and trimmed to dimensions. The weight of woven glass fibre laminate is 0.752 kg.

Sisal fibre laminate

The procedure is similar to woven glass fibre laminate except that woven glass fibre is replaced by woven sisal fibre. The laminate is made of 12 layers of woven sisal fibre to attain the required thickness of 10 mm. The total usage of resin to prepare the laminate is 900 ml. The leaf spring is permitted to stabilize, and then it is detached. The laminate edges are trimmed to the required dimensions. The weight of woven sisal fibre laminate is 0.702 kg.

Hybrid fibre laminate

Once the polythene sheet is placed, the application of resin is done gently and the principal layer of woven glass is positioned shadowed by the epoxy resin. Then, a roving of woven sisal fibre is located and then, with the help of a hand roller, it is press rolled to eliminate some entangled air. Supplementary alternate fibre rovings of woven glass and sisal fibre are positioned with the application of resin. The procedure is repeated to obtain the required thickness of 10 mm. The total usage of resin in the hybrid fibre laminate is 650 ml. The hybrid fibre laminate possesses both the combination of woven sisal and glass fibres of stacking sequence represented in Figure 6, which eventually results in the strength of the laminate.

Figure 1.

Flexural results for composite leaf spring on flexural load.

Figure 2.

Flexural results for composite leaf spring on flexural stress–strain.

Figure 3.

Flexural results for composite leaf spring on flexural load–displacement.

Figure 4.

Rockwell hardness number for composite leaf spring.

Figure 5.

Brinell hardness number for composite leaf spring.

Figure 6.

Dimensions of fabricated leaf spring and hybrid fibre laminate stacking sequence.

Experimental analysis

Experimental analysis includes mechanical testing, which reveals the material properties, such as tensile strength, hardness, elongation, fracture toughness, elasticity, stress rupture, impact resistance and fatigue limit. In this experiment, flexural testing is conducted to determine the flexural properties. For a rectangular beam under three-point bending, the flexural strength is given in the formula given below:

σ = \frac{3 F L}{2 b d^{2}}

where σ is the flexural strength (N/mm²), F is the load (force) at the splintering point (N), L is the length of the support span (930 mm), b is the width (50 mm) and d is the thickness (10 mm).

The leaf spring laminates made from glass, sisal and hybrid fibre are prepared for flexural testing. The ends of the springs are trimmed in such a way that it holds in the clamping devices provided in the testing machine. The surfaces are edge prepared and smoothened to provide a good position in applying the load gradually. The experiments are performed on a servo-controlled automated universal testing machine (UTM) of 40 ton capacity. The Experimental results of flexural properties of leaf spring is provided in Table 2.

Table 2.

Experimental flexural properties of leaf spring.

Specimen	Flexural load (kN)	Flexural strength (N/mm²)	Displacement (mm)
Glass fibre laminate	3.69	788.07	103.07
Sisal fibre laminate	0.67	107.039	88.43
Hybrid fibre laminate	2.02	365.119	101.73

Further, the hardness of the materials is measured; it is a measure that indicates how resistant to abrasion the material is. It represents the material ability to retain its everlasting shape when a force is applied. The hardness of composite leaf spring is tested in Rockwell hardness testing machine and Brinell hardness testing machine. In Rockwell tester, the indentor selected is 1/16th ball indentor because the hardness of the composite material is less than that of the steel. The Rockwell hardness number (RHN) for various load conditions such as 60, 100 and 150 kgf is tabulated in Table 3. In Brinell hardness tester, the indentor used is a ball indentor of diameter 10 mm and the Brinell hardness number (BHN) is calculated for a constant load such as 3000 kgf and the values are tabulated in Table 4.

Table 3.

Rockwell hardness testing results.

Leaf spring material	Load (kgf)	RHN			Average RHN
Leaf spring material	Load (kgf)	Trial I	Trial II	Trial III	Average RHN
Glass	60	72	64	63	66.33
	100	64	62	76	67.30	68.76
	150	74	76	68	72.67
Sisal	60	79	80	84	81
	100	84	90	88	86.32	85.33
	150	90	84	92	88.67
Hybrid	60	85	79	80	82.06
	100	86	76	79	80.33	80.13
	150	74	82	78	78

RHN: Rockwell hardness number.

Table 4.

Brinell hardness testing results.

Leaf spring material	Load (kgf)	Diameter of indentor (mm)		Surface area (mm²)	BHN
Leaf spring material	Load (kgf)	Before indentation (d)	After indentation (d)	Surface area (mm²)	BHN
Glass	3000	10	7.08	44.87	66.84
Sisal	3000	10	6.42	36.38	82.45
Hybrid	3000	10	6.55	38.37	78.15

BHN: Brinell hardness number; RHN: Rockwell hardness number.

The BHN is calculated using the formula:

BHN = \frac{Load}{Surface area}

where

Surface area of indentation = \frac{π D (D - \sqrt{D^{2} - d^{2}})}{2}

where D is the diameter of indentor, d is the diameter of indentation (after indentation), which is measured using the microscope to get the accurate measurement.

The fractured surface of the specimen is analyzed for its structure using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The SEM analysis is carried out using SUPRA 55 FESEM having the resolution of 0.8 nm and enlargement aspect varies from 100 X to 1000 kX supplied by Carl Zeiss NTS GMBH, Germany.

Results and discussion

Under similar numerical load conditions, deflection, flexural strength and flexural load are determined from the UTM and comparative extreme flexural strength noticed for glass, sisal and its hybrid leaf springs are represented in Table 2. From Table 2, it is noticed that the glass fibre laminate produces maximum flexural strength and flexural load than the other leaf spring made from sisal fibre and hybrid fibre. Since the glass fibre produces excellent strength characteristics, it has the ability to swap the conventional leaf spring with much reliability. The combination of glass and other natural fibre can be employed in the manufacture of leaf spring, which ultimately reduces the cost of the material and the usage of natural fibre enhances the production of natural fibre. The leaf spring made from the sisal fibre laminate produces less deflection for the same load than the other laminated leaf springs. It is detected that flexural load-carrying ability for glass composite is 3.69 kN, while the flexural load for sisal composite is only 0.67 kN. The hybrid composite unveils a load of 2.02 kN, which is greater than sisal fibre-reinforced composites.

The stress–strain relationship remains linear for load applied and then reaches the peak at the point of flexure, that is, the load where the material tends to break. The load–displacement curve remains linear for a certain load condition and then reaches the peak load, where the material loses its ability and breaks. The comparative ultimate flexural load, stress–strain and load–displacement of woven glass, sisal and hybrid fibre leaf spring are represented in Figures 1 to 3. From Figure 1, the flexural load is high for glass and comparably less for sisal because the glass fibre possesses better strength, and the strength of sisal fibre can be improved by treating the fibres with the additives and the production process should be automated. From Figure 2, the stress–strain relationship remains linear for the load being applied and gradually increases. The sudden rise suggests that the material tends to break. From Figure 3, the load–displacement relationship remains linear. The glass fibre tends to withstand a higher load at the same displacement of the spring as compared with the other composites. Flexural strength is a degree of stiffness. Interpretation going on leaf springs specified that the correct bonding amid fibre and matrix can enhance the stiffness to a slight range. By treating the fibres properly, flexural strength of composite could be improved. It is essential to indicate that natural fibres could be swapped in the applications, where synthetic fibres are used mainly in automobiles and related industries. Polymer matrix can be changed and the enhancement of its concentration will influence flexural characteristics because of the alteration in effect of the property of adhesion amid fibre and matrix. Strength can be improved by replacing the hand lay-up method with the automated machine.

Under similar load conditions, the leaf spring made from glass, sisal and hybrid fibre is tested in Rockwell hardness testing machine and the values are provided in Table 3. From Table 3, it is evident that the natural fibre sisal produces better hardness property than the glass fibre because of the orientation of the molecular structure in the fibre. The glass fibre produces the hardness capacity, which can be improved by woven glass fibre in the automated production process rather than in manual method. The hybrid fibre produces a hardness capacity, which is intermediate between glass and sisal, which reveals the fact that the hybrid fibre is produced from both glass and sisal fibre. The hardness property reveals the ability to withstand the load applied and the hardness property of glass can be enhanced by treating the fibre and matrix with the additives or the filler materials, which increases the hardness.

The comparative RHN for glass, sisal and hybrid fibre leaf spring is shown in Figure 4, and the hardness of sisal fibre is higher, which is indicated for various load conditions. The glass fibre is shown in the bottom because it possesses comparably less hardness than that of sisal fibre. The hybrid fibre occupies the intermediate position in the graph. The leaf spring made from various composites is tested for similar load condition in Brinell hardness testing machine and the values are tabulated. From Table 4, it justifies the fact that the natural fibre sisal has more hardness capacity than that of the glass fibre. At similar load conditions, the hardness of glass is comparably less than the sisal fibre, which can be due to many parameters starting with the fibre production until the matrix formation into the laminate. The properties can be enhanced by treating the fibres and correlating with the matrix.

The comparative BHN for glass, sisal and hybrid fibre leaf spring is shown in Figure 5, and the BHN for sisal fibre is higher, which is due to the matrix structure and of the value of 83 BHN and comparably more productive than glass fibre. Table 5 suggests the comparison of values obtained from both Rockwell and Brinell tester. From Table 5, it is revealed that the values obtained from both Rockwell and Brinell hardness apparatus are comparably similar. The entire analysis of mono leaf spring is performed on ANSYS 14.5. The dimensions are similar, which are used for experimental analysis, as shown in Figure 6. Leaf spring is modelled in Creo parametric 2.0 and introduced in ANSYS 14.5. The material considered are glass, sisal and its hybrid fibre, which is assigned to the material library and the parameters required for analyzing a model is registered and saved.

Table 5.

Comparison of RHN and BHN.

Leaf spring material	RHN	BHN
Glass	68.76	66.84
Sisal	85.33	82.45
Hybrid	80.13	78.15

BHN: Brinell hardness number; RHN: Rockwell hardness number.

The prototype of the leaf spring is partitioned into minor region for easier meshing, which is used for finer meshing of the model, as shown in Figure 7. The boundary conditions and the constraints are given at both ends of the leaf spring. One end is supported with translational movement, which regulates deflection and allows traveling in longitudinal direction. Because of these movements, it helps the spring to get flattened when load is smeared. Finally, vertical load is applied and buckling analysis is done to arrive the breaking load and the maximum deformation observed is shown in Figure 8. The stress at the start of the crack propagation is more important, whereas the stresses at the point of the buckling load may vary depending on the loading conditions. The equivalent stress (von Mises stress) calculated is shown in Figures 9 and 10.

Figure 7.

Meshed model of the leaf spring.

Figure 8.

Buckling load and maximum deformation for glass fibre/sisal leaf spring. (a) Buckling load for glass leaf spring, (b) maximum deformation of glass leaf spring, (c) buckling load for sisel leaf spring and (d) maximum deformation of sisal leaf spring.

Figure 9.

Buckling load, maximum deformation and stress for hybrid/glass fibre/sisal leaf spring. (a) Buckling load for glass leaf spring, (b) maximum deformation of glass leaf spring, (c) buckling load for glass leaf spring and (d) maximum deformation of sisal leaf spring.

Figure 10.

Stress for hybrid leaf spring.

The values of buckling load, deformation and stress for glass, sisal and hybrid fibre are presented in Table 6. From Table 6, the values suggest that the glass fibre leaf spring produces breaking load, which is more than the sisal and hybrid fibre leaf spring, which produces minimal deformation. The combined properties of sisal and glass produce a much better buckling load and less stress compared with sisal fibre leaf spring.

Table 6.

Statistical analysis of the composite leaf spring.

Specimens	Buckling load (kN)	Deformation (mm)	Stress (MPa)
Glass fibre leaf spring	3.7642	106.72	0.41945
Sisal fibre leaf spring	0.6818	91.72	0.07641
Hybrid fibre leaf spring	2.0673	109.66	0.23038

The values obtained for the glass, sisal and its hybrid fibre leaf springs from experimental analysis and static analysis are given in Table 7. From Table 7, the values obtained from numerical analysis nearly match the values recorded from the experimental analysis. With even numerical load conditions, bending stress is less in composite leaf spring when compared with steel. Composite leaf spring can be utilized on smooth roads without any vibration and with very high-performance expectations as a normal leaf spring.²² In this study, the statistical analysis suggests that breaking load and the deflection readings are slightly better than the experimental analysis. It is evident that the numerical or statistical analysis is the theoretical result, which is above the values derived from the experimental analysis. The natural fibre sisal possesses excellent mechanical properties, which can be accessed for engineering applications.²³

Table 7.

Comparative results of the composite leaf spring.

Specimens	Experimental analysis		Statistical analysis
Specimens	Breaking load (kN)	Deflection (mm)	Breaking load (kN)	Deflection (mm)
Glass leaf spring	3.69	103.07	3.7642	106.72
Sisal leaf spring	0.67	88.43	0.6818	91.72
Hybrid leaf spring	2.02	101.73	2.0673	109.66

By comparing the results presented in Table 7, it is revealed that glass fibre leaf spring enhances better strength features, which can be employed in the automobiles to replace the steel leaf spring. For the similar static load conditions, the glass fibre leaf spring produces nearly similar strength. Thus, the glass has the capacity to replace the conventional leaf spring. The combination of glass and sisal produces the strength, which is much better than the sisal fibre epoxy, which reduces the weight and the cost.

The SEM images taken from the tested samples of flexural woven sisal fibre composite of mono leaf spring are presented in Figures 11 to 14. The SEM images indicate the fracture carried out in the specimen when the force is applied. The figures indicate several kinds of fractured surfaces. Matrix fracture is a common fracture that has been seen on the surface. Due to the application of pressure, there is a matrix debonding and fibre pull-outs are observed in the structure of the images. The fibre pulls out and the related mechanisms are observed due to the weak bonding observed in between the matrix materials and the fibre. Since hand lay-up process is used for manufacturing of the composites, the bonding is not enough, which can be improved by adopting the different manufacturing techniques, such as compression moulding. Matrix dislocation due to the incorrect mingling of resin and hardener also observed. Air voids also observed in the composite laminates.

Figure 11.

SEM image of sisal fibre leaf spring underwent flexural test of magnification factor 250×.

Figure 12.

SEM image of sisal fibre leaf spring underwent flexural test of magnification factor 500×.

Figure 13.

SEM image of sisal fibre leaf spring underwent flexural test of magnification factor 2000×.

Figure 14.

SEM image of sisal fibre leaf spring underwent flexural test of magnification factor 5000×.

The various properties of steel and composite leaf spring are related and it is organized in Table 8. From Table 8, the weight of steel leaf spring is 2.43 kg, whereas the weight of composite leaf spring is 0.7 kg, which indicates that the weight is reduced up to 75% that ultimately enhances the efficiency of the automobiles. Weight reduction with retaining or increasing strength is proved to be a high research demand in the world. Composite materials prove their mark in filling these demands. The inclusion of carbon fibre with E-glass fibre in epoxy composites will improve strength and the possibility to apply in heavyweight vehicles.²⁴

Table 8.

Evaluation between steel and composite leaf spring.

Parameters	Steel	Glass	Sisal	Hybrid
Weight of one auxiliary mono leaf spring (kg)	2.43	0.752	0.702	0.736
Density (kg/m³)	7800	1558	1454	1525
Young’s modulus (GPa)	210	52 (40–70)	9.4 (9–22)	30 (9–40)
Poisson ratio	0.3	0.23	0.23	0.23
Cost estimation of one auxiliary leaf (rupees)	3186 (GM Delux LS for Light Commercial vehicle (LCV))	1125 (fibre + resin + labour)	1250 (fibre + resin + labour)	1125 (fibre + resin + labour)

Conclusions

In the present study, for the woven glass, sisal and its hybrid fibre epoxy composite leaf spring, flexural properties are determined and its statistical analysis is performed. A new material that has the required strength characteristics would replace the conventional leaf spring.

The usage of natural fibre sisal in the automotive component is made possible, which reduces the weight and cost. Composite leaf spring establishes a weight reduction of 75% for glass, sisal and its hybrid fibre above the orthodox mono steel leaf spring.

Improvement of mechanical characteristics can be achieved using preserved fibres and automated techniques of fabrication. Composite leaf spring enhances better flexural strength, hardness and high strength, which inhibits the weight reduction and cost reduction.

The glass fibre epoxy composite leaf spring produces strength characteristic, which is nearly equivalent to the steel by increasing the thickness of the composite leaf spring with decreased weight and cost.

Sisal fibre and the combination of sisal and glass fibre epoxy composite leaf spring produces good strength, which is not sufficient to meet the requirements of the steel leaf spring.

The natural fibre production can be improved only when the usage of natural fibre in society increases, which produces components, which is eco-friendly, biodegradable and reduces harm during production.

The natural fibre gradually replaces the synthetic fibre from its environmental effect in the automobile industries, making their progress towards the new rebellion in engineering materials.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

K Palani Kumar

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