MATERIAL SELECTION

Different chassis materials can reduce the weight of the vehicle, improving the vehicle power to weight ratio. Material selection can also provide advantages by reducing member deflection, increasing chassis strength and can determine the amount of reinforcement required. The materials which used to build the spaceframe chassis in this project are aluminium.

STEEL
PROPERTIES Density (1000 kg/m3) Elastic Modulus (GPa) Yield Strength (MPa) Poisson's Ratio Tensile Strength (MPa) STAINLESS STEELS 7.75-8.1 190-210 207-552 0.27-0.3 515-827

ALUMINIUM
PROPERTIES Density (1000 kg/m3) Poisson's Ratio ALUMINIUM 2.70 0.35

Aluminum is a nonferrous material with very high corrosion resistance and very light material compared to steels. Aluminum cannot match the strength of steel but its strength-to-weight ratio can make it competitive in certain stress application. Aluminium is a very light metal with a specific weight of 2.7 g/cm3, about a third that of steel. For example, the use of aluminium in vehicles reduces dead-weight and energy consumption while increasing load capacity. Weight is really important in designing a solar car because saving weight also saves energy,reduces vibration forces, improves the performance of moving parts, offer lower shipping, handling and erection costs.

Aluminium naturally generates a protective oxide coating and is highly corrosion resistant. Different types of surface treatment such as anodising, painting or lacquering can further improve this property. This will avoid solar car from rusting. Aluminium is strong with a tensile strength of 70 to 700 MPa depending on the alloy and manufacturing process. Extrusions of the right alloy and design are as strong as structural steel. The Youngs modulus for aluminium is a third that of steel (E = 70,000 MPa). This means that the moment of inertia has to be three times as great for an aluminium extrusion to achieve the same deflection as a steel profile.

TYPE OF CHASIS.
Chasis is considered to be one of the significant structures of solar car. Usually made of a steel frame or aluminium,which hold the body and motor of an automotive vehicle. Chassis usually made of light metal or composite plastic which provides strength needed for supporting solar car components and load into it.

CHASIS DESIGN PRINCIPLE

Chasis must be designed to achieve the torsional rigidity and light weight in order to achieve a good handling. The principle is to place the frame members in a triangulated format.

The triangulated box imparts strength by stressing the diagonal in tension and compression. So the box will not easily deformed by bending force due to regulated format frame. Hence, most race car chasis designed in triangulated format.

ADVANTAGE It will provide maximum strength and minimum deflection of the design. Space frame chasis systems are lighter .