The vehicle door, as a major steel-intensive closure, can achieve potential weight savings through the use of lightweight materials and new design principles. The different stiffness and strength requirements in different areas of vehicle doors under static and crash-loading cases mean that multi-material construction using metal and fiber-reinforced plastics can be an effective way to achieve lightweight design with minimal additional cost. Here, a new door structure design concept is introduced, developed, and verified virtually for efficient material utilization. This concept includes a major load-bearing ring structure as a framework and a highly function-integrated inner panel which can also serve as a shear web to carry a minor part of the load. In this concept, every part and all portions of the different materials must contribute to the load-carrying function. Lightweight materials, such as aluminum, long-fiber thermoplastics, and unidirectional tapes, and corresponding mass-production-oriented manufacturing methods are used. Anisotropy analysis under different loadings guarantees an effective local usage of unidirectional tapes. Effective section-wise topology and parameter optimization provide a design suggestion for a rib structure made of long-fiber thermoplastics. The final door concept achieves an approximately 20 % weight reduction and comparable or improved mechanical performance compared to a steel reference door.
Lightweight Concept Design of an Economical Multi-Material Vehicle Door with Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastics
Int.J Automot. Technol.
International Journal of Automotive Technology ; 24 , 3 ; 719-737
2023-06-01
19 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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