A hollow composite material control arm and its preparation method

Abstract

This invention discloses a hollow composite material control arm and its preparation method. The control arm includes a control arm body and a front bushing, a rear bushing, and a ball head located at the corners of the control arm body. The control arm body is hollow, and the front and rear bushings are both disposed within the control arm body via a structural adhesive film. This hollow composite material control arm and its preparation method are rationally designed. The integrated hollow structure eliminates the need for filling the solid structure with PMI foam, and avoids the need for secondary curing of thermoplastic materials or bonding of two halves with structural adhesive. The hollow structure of the control arm improves the weight reduction ratio, and the thermosetting continuous fiber composite material allows for better one-time molding of a hollow structure with superior performance. The manufacturing process is simple and the cost is relatively low.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of automobile suspension, in particular to a hollow structure composite control arm and a preparation method thereof. BACKGROUND

[0002] The control arm is a guiding and force transmitting part of the automobile suspension system, mainly transmitting various forces received by the wheel to the vehicle body, while ensuring the vehicle to move along a certain trajectory. The control arm is elastically connected to the wheel and the vehicle body through a bushing, so the overall automobile control arm should have sufficient rigidity, strength and service life. The composite material meets the requirements and has good designability, higher corrosion resistance and fatigue life, and better weight reduction effect.

[0003] The control arm disclosed in Chinese patent CN201711146703.5 is made of HP-RTM process, and woven cloth is used. Compared with unidirectional prepreg, the performance of woven cloth is greatly reduced, the weight reduction ratio is reduced, and PMI foam is additionally used to increase the cost. As can be seen from the above, this scheme is not the best choice in terms of cost and weight reduction effect. The control arm disclosed in Chinese patent CN201910696074.6 is made of two half shells formed by thermoplastic material and then bonded by structural adhesive. First, the process is relatively complex and requires multiple molding and curing. Secondly, the control arm has high performance requirements, and simply using structural adhesive to bond the two half shells together will inevitably require a large bonding area and result in the use of a large amount of structural adhesive, leading to an increase in overall cost. SUMMARY

[0004] In view of the deficiencies of the prior art, the technical problem to be solved by the present application is to provide a hollow structure composite control arm and a preparation method thereof, so as to achieve the purposes of simple production and low cost.

[0005] In order to solve the above technical problems, the technical scheme adopted by the present application is as follows:

[0006] A hollow structure composite control arm, comprising a control arm body, a front bushing, a rear bushing and a ball head arranged at the corners of the control arm body, wherein the control arm body is a hollow body, and the front bushing, the rear bushing and the ball head are arranged in the control arm body through a structural adhesive film.

[0007] The control arm body is a hollow glass fiber control arm.

[0008] The process hole on the control arm body for taking out the internal support body and the vacuum bag.

[0009] A preparation method of a hollow structure composite control arm, comprising the following steps:

[0010] 1) Support aluminum mold manufacturing;

[0011] 2) support body manufacturing: using glass fiber prepreg to manufacture the support body on the support body aluminum mold;

[0012] 3) internal metal part processing: a layer of structural adhesive film is attached to the metal part in the bonding area with the unidirectional prepreg, ready for use;

[0013] 4) vacuum bag placement: after the surface of the nylon vacuum bag is coated with release agent, it is placed in the glass fiber support body, and is fixed in position using adhesive;

[0014] 5) support body processing: a layer of release agent is sprayed on the upper surface of the support body;

[0015] 6) control arm preform: the unidirectional glass fiber prepreg is wrapped around the support body in an up-down manner, and when the designed number of layers is reached, the metal part wrapped with structural adhesive film is placed on the positioning pin of the mold cavity, and the remaining prepreg is laid, and the mold can be used to control the shape of the product during the process;

[0016] 7) mold closing: after the preform is completed, the preform and the metal part are placed in the lower mold cavity according to the positioning pin position, and the upper mold is closed;

[0017] 8) curing molding;

[0018] 9) removing the support body and vacuum bag in the control arm;

[0019] 10) post-curing: after the molding is completed, the product is taken out of the mold and placed in a heat oven for post-curing, and the control arm manufacturing is completed.

[0020] Among them,

[0021] In step 1), the support body aluminum mold is shrunk by 1-2mm according to the size of the cavity in the designed composite control arm body.

[0022] In step 3), the surface of the metal part can be optionally knurled or sandblasted, and then cleaned.

[0023] In step 4), the nylon vacuum bag is fixed using double-sided adhesive.

[0024] In step 8), the molding pressure is controlled at 5-10MPa, and the temperature is controlled at 110-140℃.

[0025] Compared with the prior art, the present application has the following advantages:

[0026] The hollow composite material control arm and its preparation method are reasonably designed. The one-piece hollow structure does not require filling the solid structure with PMI foam, nor does it require secondary curing of thermoplastic solutions or bonding of two halves with structural adhesive. The hollow structure of the control arm can improve the weight reduction ratio. At the same time, the thermosetting continuous fiber composite material can be better molded into a hollow structure with better performance in one step. It is simple to manufacture and relatively low in cost. Attached Figure Description

[0027] The following is a brief explanation of the contents of each of the accompanying drawings and the markings in the drawings:

[0028] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the control arm structure of the present invention.

[0029] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the fabrication of the control arm support body of the present invention.

[0030] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the process structure of the control arm of the present invention.

[0031] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the control arm forming mold of the present invention.

[0032] In the picture:

[0033] 1-Control arm body, 2-Front bushing, 3-Rear bushing, 4-Ball head, 5-Structural adhesive film, 6-Support body, 7-Support body aluminum mold, 8-Vacuum bag, 9-Upper mold, 10-Front bushing positioning pin, 11-Rear bushing positioning pin, 12-Ball head positioning pin, 13-Lower mold. Detailed Implementation

[0034] The specific embodiments of the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and through the description of the examples.

[0035] like Figures 1 to 4 As shown, the hollow composite material control arm includes a control arm body 1 and a front bushing 2, a rear bushing 3, and a ball head 4 located at the corner of the control arm body. The control arm body is a hollow body, and the front bushing, the rear bushing, and the ball head are all located in the control arm body through a structural adhesive film 5.

[0036] The control arm body is a hollow fiberglass control arm; the control arm body has process holes for removing the internal support and vacuum bag.

[0037] The method for preparing the hollow composite material control arm of the present invention includes the following steps:

[0038] 1) support body aluminum mold making; 2) support body making: using glass fiber prepreg to make support body on the support body aluminum mold; 3) embedded metal part processing: a layer of structural adhesive film is attached to the metal part in the bonding area with the unidirectional prepreg, ready for use; 4) vacuum bag placement: after the surface of the nylon vacuum bag is coated with release agent, it is placed in the glass fiber support body, and the position is fixed using adhesive; 5) support body processing: a layer of release agent is sprayed on the upper surface of the support body; 6) control arm preform: the unidirectional glass fiber prepreg is wrapped around the support body in an overall up-down manner, and when the prepreg is laid to the designed number of layers, the metal part wrapped with structural adhesive film is positioned on the mold cavity positioning pin, and the remaining prepreg is laid, and the mold can be used to control the shape of the product during the process; 7) mold closing: after the preform is completed, the preform and the metal part are placed in the lower mold cavity according to the position of the mold positioning pin, and the upper mold is closed; 8) curing molding;

[0039] 9) remove the support body and vacuum bag in the control arm; 10) post-curing: after the molding is completed, the product is taken out of the mold and placed in a heat oven for post-curing, and the control arm is completed.

[0040] In step 1), the support body aluminum mold is shrunk by 1-2mm according to the size of the cavity in the designed composite control arm body; in step 3), the surface of the metal part can be treated by knurling or sandblasting, and then cleaned; in step 4), the nylon vacuum bag is fixed using double-sided adhesive tape.

[0041] In step 8), the molding pressure is controlled at 5-10MPa, and the temperature is controlled at 110-140℃, and the product has good quality stability.

[0042] The hollow structure composite control arm and the preparation method thereof have reasonable design, adopt an integrated hollow structure, do not need to fill PMI foam with solid structure, and do not need to use thermoplastic scheme for secondary curing or adhesion with structural adhesive after using two half structures; the hollow structure control arm can improve the weight reduction ratio, and the thermosetting continuous fiber composite material can be better molded once to form a hollow structure with better performance, and the production is simple and the cost is relatively low.

[0043] Preferred specific examples are:

[0044] As shown in Figure 1 , the specific structure of the composite control arm according to the specific embodiment of the present application comprises: a control arm body 1, a front bushing 2, a rear bushing 3, a ball head 4 and a structural adhesive film 5, wherein the control arm body is the main load-bearing structure, and the front bushing 2, the rear bushing 3 and the ball head 4 are connected with the vehicle body suspension. The control arm body is a hollow structure, which has better weight reduction effect than the solid structure, and a process round hole is left in the middle for subsequent vacuum bag removal.

[0045] As shown in Figure 2As shown, the support body 6 of the composite material control arm according to a specific embodiment of the present invention is mainly made by machining the support body aluminum mold 7 by shrinking the inner cavity of the composite material control arm body 1 by 1-2mm, and the support body 6 can be made on the support body aluminum mold 7 using glass fiber prepreg.

[0046] like Figure 3 As shown, the process structure of the composite material control arm according to a specific embodiment of the present invention includes: control arm body 1, front bushing 2, rear bushing 3, ball head 4, structural adhesive film 5, support body 6, and vacuum bag 8. The embedded metal parts, including the front bushing 2, rear bushing 3, and ball head 4, are roughened and cleaned before being wrapped with a layer of structural adhesive film 5 at their contact points with the prepreg, improving the connection strength between the metal parts and the control arm body 1. The control arm body 1 is mainly composed of unidirectional prepreg at different angles, and the unidirectional prepreg offers high design flexibility. A layer of release agent is sprayed onto the surface of the vacuum bag 8, and it is fixed inside the support body 6 using double-sided tape. A layer of release agent is also sprayed onto the outer surface of the support body 6. After completing the above preliminary preparations, the prepreg is wrapped around the support body according to the designed layup angle and sequence to fabricate the control arm body 1. Note that the pre-treated front bushing 2, rear bushing 3, and ball head 4, all wrapped with structural adhesive film 5, are embedded during the fabrication of the control arm body 1.

[0047] like Figure 4 As shown, the molding die structure for the composite material control arm according to a specific embodiment of the present invention mainly includes: an upper die 9, a front bushing positioning pin 10, a rear bushing positioning pin 11, a ball head positioning pin 12, and a lower die 13. The front bushing 2, rear bushing 3, and ball head 4 are placed into the lower mold cavity along with the control arm body 1, internal structural adhesive film 5, support body 6, and vacuum bag 8, according to the die positioning pin positions. The upper die is then closed. The product is fed into a flat vulcanizing machine for compression molding and curing. After curing, the product is placed in an oven for post-curing to further improve the resin curing rate and eliminate some internal stress. The support body 6 and vacuum bag 8 are then removed from the product to obtain the hollow composite material control arm.

[0048] The preferred preparation process steps are as follows:

[0049] 1. Fabrication of aluminum mold for support body: The aluminum mold for support body is made by reducing the internal cavity size of the composite material control arm body by 1-2mm according to the design.

[0050] 2. Support fabrication: The support is fabricated using fiberglass prepreg on the aluminum mold of the support;

[0051] 3. Embedded metal parts treatment: The surface of the metal parts can be knurled or sandblasted. After treatment, clean it thoroughly and apply a layer of structural adhesive film to the bonding area with the unidirectional prepreg for later use.

[0052] 4, vacuum bag placement: the surface of the nylon vacuum bag is coated with a release agent and placed in the glass fiber support body, and double-sided tape is used to fix the position;

[0053] 5, support processing: spray a layer of release agent on the upper surface of the support;

[0054] 6, control arm preform: the one-way glass fiber prepreg is wrapped around the support in an overall up-down manner, and when the designed number of layers is reached, the metal part wrapped with structural adhesive film is placed on the mold cavity positioning pin for positioning, and the remaining prepreg is laid, and the mold can be used to control the shape of the product at any time Position and shape control;

[0055] 7, mold closing: after the preform is completed, the preform and the metal part are placed in the lower mold 13 cavity according to the mold positioning pin position, and the upper mold 9 is closed;

[0056] 8, solidification forming: the forming pressure is controlled at 5-10MPa, and the temperature is controlled at 110-140℃;

[0057] 9, take out the support and vacuum bag: take out the internal support and vacuum bag from the composite control arm process hole;

[0058] 10, post-curing: after the molding is completed, the product is taken out from the mold and placed in a heat oven for post-curing, and the control arm is completed.

[0059] The application first makes a glass fiber support body; places a vacuum bag in the support body; lays a unidirectional prepreg outside the support body; during the laying of the unidirectional prepreg, the surface of the connecting metal part is treated and pasted with a structural adhesive film together with the control arm body to continue the layering; after the prepreg is laid, the process preform is placed in a metal mold, the mold is closed, and then sent to a flat vulcanizing machine for molding and curing; through the design of the hollow structure, the weight can be effectively reduced, and the subsequent use of structural adhesive is not required, and all of them are unidirectional prepregs, which have stronger designability, higher weight reduction ratio and lower overall cost.

[0060] The above is only a description of the preferred embodiment of the application, and the above technical features can be arbitrarily combined to form multiple embodiments of the application.

[0061] The application has been described above in conjunction with the drawings, and it is obvious that the specific implementation of the application is not limited by the above manner. Any non-essential improvement or direct application of the concept and technical solution of the application to other occasions is within the protection scope of the application.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a hollow structure composite control arm, the hollow structure composite control arm comprising a control arm body, a front bushing, a rear bushing and a ball head arranged at corners of the control arm body, the control arm body being a hollow body, the front bushing, the rear bushing and the ball head being arranged in the control arm body through a structural adhesive film, and a process hole on the control arm body for taking out an internal support body and a vacuum bag; the method comprising the following steps: 1) support body aluminum mold manufacturing; 2) support body manufacturing: using glass fiber prepreg to manufacture the support body on the support body aluminum mold; 3) internal metal part processing: a layer of structural adhesive film is attached to the metal part at a bonding area with the unidirectional prepreg for standby; 4) vacuum bag placement: placing a nylon vacuum bag into the glass fiber support body after the surface of the nylon vacuum bag is coated with a release agent, and using adhesive to fix the position; 5) support body processing: spraying a layer of release agent on the upper surface of the support body; 6) control arm preform: starting to lay up unidirectional glass fiber prepreg on the outside of the support body in an overall up-down wrapping manner, placing the metal part wrapped with a structural adhesive film on the positioning pin of the mold cavity after laying up to the designed number of layers, completing the remaining prepreg laying up, and using the mold to control the shape of the product during the process; 7) mold closing: placing the preform and the metal part into the lower mold cavity according to the position of the positioning pin, and closing the upper mold; 8) curing molding; 9) taking out the support body and the vacuum bag in the control arm; 10) post-curing: taking out the product from the mold after completing the molding, and placing it into a heat oven for post-curing, and completing the manufacturing of the control arm; wherein, in the step 1), the support body aluminum mold is shrunk by 1-2 mm according to the size of the internal cavity of the designed composite control arm body; in the step 4), the nylon vacuum bag is fixed using double-sided adhesive; and in the step 8), the molding pressure is controlled at 5-10 MPa, and the temperature is controlled at 110-140℃. characterized in that The control arm body is a hollow glass fiber control arm. In the step 3), the surface of the metal part is treated by knurling or sandblasting, and then cleaned thoroughly. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 2. The method of claim 1, wherein: ​ 3. The method of claim 1, wherein: ​

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