Design and Manufacture of Automotive Hybrid Steel/Carbon Fiber Composite B-Pillar Component with High Crashworthiness

A composite B-pillar was designed and manufactured by design optimization combined with an impact analysis. A carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) was used for the reinforcement part of the B-pillar assembly to substitute the conventional steel materials for reducing the weight of vehicle. To maximize the impact performance by finite element method, the equivalent static loads method was used. The shape, stacking sequence, and thickness of the CFRP reinforcement were optimized to minimize the deflection profile for improving the crashworthiness while reducing the weight. The designed CFRP B-pillar was manufactured and its performance was evaluated by a drop weight test. As a result, the CFRP B-pillar exhibited an improved impact performance and reduced weight compared to those of the conventional steel B-pillar.