Damage tolerant drive shafts with integrated CFRP flanges

There are different applications for drive train systems in automotive, aerospace, marine and mechanical engineering industries. As a highly automated manufacturing technology, braiding offers a potential to reduce the total costs of such products. Furthermore, it is feasible to integrate composite flanges in one shot during the preforming process. Thus the drive shafts show a damage tolerant and light weight behavior. In this paper different braiding configurations and flange concepts are presented. It is shown that a triaxial braiding configuration has a damage tolerance of 87 % but is inferior regarding initial torque performance compared to a NOBRAZED (Non Braided Zero Degree Fibers) configuration. However, the NOBRAZED configuration has a poor damage tolerance beside their high axial stiffness. Furthermore, it is evaluated that the triaxial fiber architecture is most suitable for the flange braiding process. It is necessary to reinforce the flange geometry by Non-Crimp Fabrics (NCF) in order to avoid bearing failure at the holes. An advanced design of the intersection between tube and flange leads to a 64 % improvement of the torque performance.