Open AccessBicycle frame from hemp fibre filament wound composites
Author(s) -
Arisara Chaikittiratana,
Sacharuck Pornpeerakeat,
Kerati Suwanpakpraek,
Sitthichai Limrungruengrat,
Joshua Dietz-Röthlingshöfer
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
technologies for lightweight structures
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2512-4587
DOI - 10.21935/tls.v3i1.133
Subject(s) - filament winding , composite material , materials science , epoxy , finite element method , composite number , structural engineering , protein filament , frame (networking) , mechanical engineering , engineering
This work presents an initial study for hemp fibre produced in Thailand. The study focuses on the application of the filament winding technique in the production of hemp-epoxy composite tubes for a bicycle frame. The motivation is to produce hemp fibre composites from locally available resources in Thailand. For the initial trail, existing bicycle steel tubes were replaced by ±45° filament wound hemp-epoxy composites with thin aluminium inner layers. The mechanical properties of the hemp-epoxy composites were studied according to the ASTM standard. Two static load cases were chosen and considered for a 100 kg cyclist sitting on the saddle and pedalling while standing. The internal forces and moments were calculated for the frame and frame tubes. The stress and buckling analyses were performed using the finite element method for frame tubes considering the above loading cases. The finite element analysis shows that hemp-epoxy composite tubes with ±45° fibre orientation can be used as bicycle frame tubes and meet the design specifications under the considered static load conditions. The filament winding process was accomplished successfully at KMUTNB using an automated desktop filament winding machine.