Application of polymer composite materials for production of springs of vehicles (review)

Polymer composite materials (PCM) have found the wide application in the production of products for various purposes. Elastic elements of machines, in particular springs, operate under conditions of alternating loads, resulting in their fatigue failure and a failure of a technical system as a whole. PCMs based on fibrous fillers are materials with considerable internal friction, which ensures energy dissipation and damping free vibrations. The use of such materials in the production of elastic elements of machines will allow one not only to increase the durability of products, but also to realize the possibility of switching to small-leaf or single-leaf springs, as well as to reduce their weight. However, the production of springs from PCM is associated with a number of difficulties, which include: the choice of the composition and the properties of PCM components, as well as the scheme of its reinforcement, the methods of molding, curing and subsequent processing. In addition, at present, methods for calculating profiled composite elements with complex fiber placement trajectories are insufficiently developed. Therefore, the solution of these problems is an urgent problem of great scientific and practical importance. The analyses results of the properties of materials of PCM components for the production of springs, the methods of production of them and subsequent processing are presented. The significant factors influencing the durability of elastic elements of machines have been determined.