International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056 Volume: 07 Issue: 08 | Aug 2020 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072 © 2020, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 7.529 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 4483 ANALYSIS OF ALLOY WHEEL RIM STYLING STRUCTURE USING ALUMINIUM AND MAGNESIUM ALLOYS P Santosh Reddy 1 and Dr. R Ramesh 2 1 PG Scholar, MVGR College of Engineering, Vizianagaram, India. 2 Professor, Department of ME, MVGR College of Engineering, Vizianagaram, India. ---------------------------------------------------------------------***--------------------------------------------------------------------- Abstract - The wheel rim designed must be durable enough to withstand rough loads, harsh environments and must meet both the styling appearance and engineering functions. The present work gives a brief compilation of research related to analysis of equivalent maximum stresses in passenger car wheel rim by operating various loading conditions like radial, bending and impact loads. The design and analysis of the wheel rim is done based on Design for Manufacturing methodology. A new CAD model of the wheel rim is prepared for the passenger car wheel rim of 17 inch diameter according to TRA standards in CATIA V5. The 3D model of the wheel rim is imported to NX Nastran for analysis and for solving, finite element technique is used. The analysis is done by simulating the model, using Static structural analysis on aluminium and magnesium alloy materials respectively. Finally relative performance characteristics are reported, based on maximum equivalent stresses and the optimal material for usage is selected for the wheel rim, in order to increase the fatigue strength and service life along with optimal fuel consumption for the vehicle. Key Words: Alloy Wheel, NX Nastran, Static Structural Analysis, Cornering Fatigue Test, Radial Fatigue Test, Wheel Impact Test, Design for Manufacturing. 1. INTRODUCTION An automobile is a combination of various parts like engine, transmission, body, suspension system, wheels etc,. Wheels are critical components and are of primary importance for human safety. Wheel is generally composed of rim and tire assembly. Alloy wheels are wheels which are mostly made of aluminium or magnesium alloys. Though other materials like composites, titanium and steel alloys come under this category. The alloy wheel is prominently used due to its lighter in weight, more strength, excellent corrosive resistance, better heat dissipation and stylish appearance. Mostly, the alloy wheels are manufactured by low pressure die casting process. In general, design of the wheel is done by first modelling the wheel rim and then subjected to various structural analysis. The modelling and analysis is done by using various reliable software which had an ease in solving the component. Finite element methods are mostly used to evaluate the performance of the wheel rim. Based on the studies on material selection of wheel rim, it is observed that the materials that are mostly used are alloys of steel, aluminium, magnesium titanium and composites [1,2,3]. But there is no common solution to say which material is the best for the automobile wheel rim. Though it is due to changes in design structures, manufacturing ease but the main reason is due to volatility in tests. Alloy wheels for use on passenger cars has to pass three tests namely Dynamic Cornering Fatigue Test, Dynamic Radial Fatigue Test and Impact Test before going into the production [4]. The different types of alloy wheels are, Steel Alloy: It has an excellent feature of high fatigue strength, and can withstand maximum number of cyclic loads. But the main reason for not using this alloy wheel is due to its heavy weight, fuel consumption is more. Aluminium Alloy: It has features of excellent lightness, thermal conductivity, physical characteristics of casting, low heat, machine processing and re-utilization etc,. This alloy wheel is mostly used due to its main advantages of decreased weight, high precision and design choices of the wheel. Magnesium Alloy: It has all the features similar to aluminium alloy and additionally, it has superior size stability and impact resistance, but is somewhat costlier than aluminium alloy. However, its use is mainly restricted to racing, which needs the features of weightlessness and high strength. Titanium alloy: It is an admirable metal for corrosion resistance and the strength is about 2.5 times more compared to aluminium alloy. But the main reason for not using this alloy is due to its inferior machine processing, designing and more costlier. Composite material: It is different from other alloy wheels, it is developed mainly for low weight. But the main reason for not using this type of wheel is due to its inadequate consistency against heat, best strength and lack of knowledge related to processing and recycling method to be used. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1 Aluminium alloy Aluminium is a chemical element with the symbol ‘Al’. Aluminium is the ideal light-weight material as it allows mass saving of up to 50% over competing materials in most applications without compromising safety. [5]. Aluminium alloys are either cast or wrought alloys and can be categorized into a number of groups based on particular