Structural and Vibration Analysis of Lower Control Arm Made of Continuous Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic with Fibre Path in Principal Stress Direction

Carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) is widely used in the automotive industry for its excellent mechanical performance relative to its lightweight properties. Recent advancements in additive manufacturing technologies like 3D printing have allowed for the design of carbon fibre paths to enhance mechanical properties. Although there are many studies on carbon fibre composite materials on the uniaxial fibre path, there is still a lack of research that designed customized carbon fibre paths using 3D printing. Moreover, generating a finite element model of carbon fibre composite involves complex pre-processing. Therefore, this study presents a method for simplifying the generation of finite element models for CFRP-applied lower control arms using Python code. Additionally, comparative studies are performed for aspects of weight, structural integrity, and vibration characteristics of the lower control arm model based on unidirectional CFRP models and principal stress direction CFRP models against the conventional aluminum lower control arm model.