Papers by Keyword: Automotive Bushing

Abstract: An automotive bushing is a device used in automotive suspension systems to reduce the load transmitted from the wheel to the frame of the vehicle. A bushing is a hollow cylinder, which is bonded to a solid steel shaft at its inner surface and a steel sleeve at its outer surface. The relation between the force applied to the shaft and the relative deformation of a bushing is nonlinear and exhibits features of viscoelasticity. In this paper, an automotive bushing is regarded as nonlinear viscoelastic incompressible material. Instron 8801 equipment was used for experimental research and ramp-to-constant displacement control test was used for data acquisition. Displacementdependent force relaxation function was obtained from the force extrapolation method and expressed as the explicit combination of time and displacement. Pipkin-Rogers model, which is the direct relation of force and displacement, was obtained and comparison studies between the experimental results and the Pipkin-Rogers results were carried out.

Abstract: Viscoelastic materials are used in automobiles and other products. However, because of theoretical complexity, it has not been easy to put all the energy exhausted into the automotive viscoelastic materials. Since time is the most important factor in the study of viscoelastic material, creep and stress relaxation functions are very important. In this study, a bushing was selected for special viscoelastic material. A bushing is a device used in automotive suspension systems to cushion the force transmitted from the wheel to the frame of the vehicle. A bushing is essentially a hollow cylinder which is bonded to a solid metal shaft at its inner surface and a metal sleeve at its outer surface. The shaft is connected to the suspension and the sleeve is connected to the frame. The cylinder provides the cushion when it deforms due to relative motion between the shaft and sleeve. The relation between the force applied to the shaft or sleeve and their deformation is nonlinear and exhibits features of viscoelasticity. A force-displacement relation for a bushing is important for multi-body dynamics numerical simulations. Hence, an explicit force-displacement relation has been introduced. The relation is expressed in terms of a force relaxation function. With Pipkin-Rogers model, the direct relation of force and displacement that has been derived from experiment and numerical simulation, the sinusoidal displacement was chosen and the relation of frequency and deformation for the viscoelastic material was studied.