Durability assessment of CFRP lower control arm using stress-life method

Recently, regulations on fuel efficiency and CO₂ emissions have been reinforced in automobile industries. As a result, many companies make an effort to satisfy these regulations by adapting composite materials to the automobile body as well as its components. In particular, the lower control arm in the suspension system is subjected to heavy loads and is designed to be thick to meet operating loads. Therefore, it is essential for the lower control arm to reduce weight and to secure the durability assessment. In this paper, we conducted structural analysis by performing stress and stiffness analysis under given load conditions through finite element analysis, and verified whether it satisfies the load and stiffness conditions. The inertia relief method is adapted to the process of analysis, and the principal stress is used as a criterion for evaluation. Based on these results, the durability assessment is carried out using the stress-life method.