Research on development of composite deck for electric vehicle

Tan, Rui Jie (2020) Research on development of composite deck for electric vehicle. Project Report. Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Composite deck is the solution to conventional wood deck due to the weight reduction possibilities during design, excellent durability, resistant to weathering and excellent mechanical strength it provides. Problem statements for composite decking design is the weight and mechanical performance of the composite as well as sustainability issues. The aim of this research is to study the implementation of different type of woods as a core for sandwich panel to tackle the issue. The wood utilized as cores also have hexagonal cells designated onto for weight reduction of the sandwich panels as a whole. Wood cores variation along with hexagonal cell presence is manipulated for studies of mechanical properties. The wood variation utilised in the research are rubber, pine and balsa wood while hexagonal cell parameters are constant with 7 mm diameter and 3 mm wall thickness. The sandwich composite is fabricated with machined wood cores, woven glass fiber and epoxy resin. Fabrication of the sandwich panel is done using hand lay up method followed by vacuum bagging process to ensure quality sample or product. Testing of mechanical properties are done based on reference of ASTM standards. Mechanical tests carried out includes shear tension, flexural and compression tests. Rubber wood with hexagonal cells achieved the highest weight reduction percentage compared to the pine and balsa while also remaining as the core with highest flexural and compressive strength among the hexagonal cell cores. For shear tension strength, the presence of hexagonal cells on rubber wood increased the shear strength by 1.38 % with pine and balsa increasing 18.09 % and 75.75 % respectively. Nonetheless, hexagonal cell rubber wood core have the highest flexural and compressive strength compared to hexagonal cell pine and balsa while losing in terms of shear tension against hexagonal cell pine core. By factoring in the highest density reduction percentage, hexagonal rubber wood core is deemed the optimum design for composite decks in terms of weight reduction and mechanical strength.

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