Ply optimization of carbon fiber reinforced plastic control arm based on grey relational analysis

Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) was used for lightweight design of suspension control arm. In order to perform the excellent mechanical properties of CFRP, the multi-objective ply optimization of CFRP control arm was carried out. The finite element model of the control arm was constructed based on the test results of material mechanical properties of CFRP. And the structural properties of the steel control arm and the CFRP control arm were compared by finite element simulations. Considering the mass, modal frequency, stiffness and strength, the orthogonal experiment design method combined with grey relational analysis and principal component analysis were used to optimize the CFRP control arm ply parameters for determining the optimal ply scheme. The results show that the mass of the optimized CFRP control arm is reduced by 40.23% compared with the original steel control arm, which achieves a significant weight reduction. Meanwhile, the structural performance indexes of the optimized CFRP control arm are improved, except for a slight decrease in longitudinal stiffness.