Material Optimization and Weight Reduction of Drive Shaft Using Composite Material

The objective of the drive shaft is to connect with the transmission shaft with the help of universal joint whose axis intersects and the rotation of one shaft about its own axis results in rotation of other shaft about its axis. Shafts must be exceptionally tough and light to improve the overall performance of the vehicle. Automobile industries are exploring composite materials in order to obtain reduction of weight without significant decrease in vehicle quality and reliability. This is due to the fact that the reduction of weight of a vehicle directly impacts its fuel consumption. Particularly in city driving, the reduction of weight is almost directly proportional to fuel consumption of the vehicle. Also at the start of vehicle the most of the power get consumed in driving transmission system, if we able to reduce the weight of the propeller shaft that surplus available power can be used to propel the vehicle. Thus, in this paper, the aim is to replace a two-piece metallic drive shaft by a composite drive shaft. The following materials can be chosen Steel, Boron/Epoxy Composite, Kevlar/Epoxy Composite, Aluminum – Glass/Epoxy Hybrid, Carbon – Glass/Epoxy Hybrid. The analysis was carried out for three different ply orientations of the composites in order to suggest the most suitable ply orientation of the material that would give the maximum weight reduction while conforming to the stringent design parameters of passenger cars and light commercial vehicle.