Preliminary Design of Side Door Impact Beam For Passenger Cars Using Aluminium Alloy

The growing demand for more fuel efficient vehicles to reduce energy consumption and air pollution provides a challenge for the automotive industry. The best way to increase fuel efficiency, without sacrificing safety, is to employ aluminium alloy within the body of cars, due to its higher strength to weight ratio than that of conventional steel. In this study, during the early design stage, structural modifications were studied using Finite Element Analysis (FEA), to determine a suitable cross-section shape for the side-door impact beam. The impact energy absorption characteristics of aluminium alloy and high-strength steel were investigated using a Charpy impact test. The fracture and surface contour of both materials were observed after impact testing. The preliminary results showed that a square hollow cross-section type was suitable for side-door impact beam use, due to its yield at the highest bending load. Both materials exhibited differential fractures and surface contours after impact testing, which directly indicates that aluminium alloy experienced a ductile fracture and had higher impact energy absorption than the high-strength steel.