Design improvement of an automotive-formed suspension component subjected to fretting fatigue

This paper, reports an investigation carried out on an automotive-formed suspension component that was supposed to last at least 300.000 load cycles, but that did not meet the necessary fatigue requirements. The main damaging factor was related to fretting fatigue. Design improvement, in order to avoid the fretting phenomena, was then carried out on the suspension car component. Some linear and nonlinear analyses using “cosmos works” were carried out to determine the stress state along the component. At the end, a significant improvement in fatigue life was achieved. The design improvement was obtained with a simple solution, without any further costs or component material substitution.