Design and Manufacturing of a Composite Drive Shaft

Abstract

In this study, a composite drive shaft for heavy commercial vehicles is designed and manufactured. The carbon/epoxy composite material is used for the shaft tube and the end joints are made of steel. The material properties of the carbon/epoxy composite are obtained by performing coupon tests. The shaft tube is modeled using ANSYS finite element software. The static, buckling and modal analysis are achieved to obtain the Tsai-Wu strength ratio, the critical buckling torque and free vibration frequencies, respectively. The shaft tube is manufactured by using filament winding method. The steel end connections are bonded to the shaft tube during the filament winding process.