DESIGN OPTIMIZATION AND ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE LEAF SPRING FOR LIGHT WEIGHT VEHICLE

Leaf spring is a traditional type of suspension system used in automobiles. It is the most comfortable device as compared with passengers, but due to its excessive weight, it is underestimated by the automobile sector. Leaf spring is only used in heavy transport vehicles due to high torque transmission required, vehicles easily sustain the load of 7 Steel Leafs. If the excessive weight of leaf spring means the weight of steel will be reduced then it is also very beneficial for light motor vehicles. Near about only 20% of unspring weight contributes by the leaf spring. So with a small amount of weight reduction will improve the comfort of passengers also it helps to minimize the vehicle cost. In this review paper steel is replaced by composite material with its specific design will be the best process of reduction in wei ght of leaf spring. Different design software can be used to achieve an optimistic design of leaf spring. A weight reduction is achieved only when a steel leaf spring is replaced with a mono composite spring under various conditions of design.