Investigation of the Crashworthiness Performance and the Manufacturability of a Additively Manufactured Carbon PA Minibus Front Shell

Additive manufacturing of minibuses front shells using Carbon PA can offer numerous advantages over commonly used materials for these components. Typically, minibus front shells are made of aluminum or GRP composite material. The lightweight and strength properties of Carbon PA make it an ideal material for their replacement. By combining it with the design capabilities of additive manufacturing, unconventional weight reductions can be achieved. The aim of this work is to evaluate the effectiveness of replacing the front shells of a minibus made of fiberglass composite, with an equivalent volume shell made of Carbon PA, internally lightened through additive manufacturing. Evaluations were conducted by comparing the specific energy absorption (SEA) index of the frame-front shell system between the two configurations. The study demonstrates that, under equivalent load and volume conditions, the use of Carbon PA in conjunction with additive manufacturing processes significantly impacts the characteristics of the minibus. This influence is observed both in terms of weight reduction, resulting in a mass-saving of the front shell by approximately 50%, and in terms of impact energy management. There is a notable increase in the specific energy absorption index, rising from a value of 0.54 for the standard fiberglass shell configuration to the value of 1.977 for the envisioned Carbon PA engineered filament shell. This also has implications for the sustainability of the proposed solution, as the reduced weight translates into enhanced fuel efficiency and payload capacity.