Transactions on Transport Sciences

Transactions on Transport Sciences 2009, 2(2):74-85 | DOI: 10.5507/tots.2009.012

Bonding of Structural Parts of Vehicle Bodies and Aspects of Passive Safety

J. Kovanda¹, T. Růžička^*,1, M. Kepka²

¹ Faculty of Transportation Sciences, Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic

² Research Centre of Rail Vehicles, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Czech Republic

Many new materials, technologies and new structural solutions are applied in vehicle bodies. With the application of new, non-conventional materials we obtain better capabilities, a higher level of safety, and, last but not least, weight reduction. At a time when energy savings are sought after, weight reduction is a great motivational factor for the application of composites, aluminium and magnesium alloys, etc. The use of nonconventional materials is connected with requirements for a different technology for the manufacture of vehicle bodies, as well as the issue of mutual connection of individual parts. Completely different actions, which we are not accustomed to in current structures, take place at the boundaries of mechanically, as well as chemically, different substructures. The current pieces of knowledge relate mainly to contemporary materials, or possibly to the classical ways of connecting - welding, screwed joints, and the like. However, we do not completely understand the largely expanding bonded joints, and, in combination with non-conventional materials, we know even less about them. Computer simulations are of no help because the characteristics of these bonds are not described very well. The below-mentioned experiment was focused on this area of structural bonding of composite materials; its objective was to clarify these relations. The actual experiment included a crash test of a vehicle with a body made from composite materials, whose deformation zone had individual elements bonded with various types of structural adhesives. The deformation zone of the experimental body was designed on the basis of the knowledge obtained from tensile tests. The tests were to verify mechanical characteristics of structural joints. Based on the obtained knowledge it was possible to specify the suitability of the use of individual joints and materials in the deformation zone. The outcome of the performed experiment is a judgement of the destruction of individual joints, destruction of the entire body, and fulfilment of passive safety criteria.

Keywords: vehicle body, non-conventional material, composites, structural adhesive, boundary relation, passive safety.

Published: June 1, 2009  Show citation