Metallics and composites bond to form hybrid anti-roll bar

A collaboration has led to the development of a high-performance anti-roll bar for trucks and trains that is 30 per cent lighter than those currently on the market. 

The AMRC Composite Centre worked with Sheffield-based Tinsley Bridge and Performance Engineered Solutions, in Rotherham, on the Lightweight Metal Composite Hybrid (LiMeCH) project which, with £400,000 in funding from Innovate UK, created a lighter alternative to the tubular steel bar currently used for suspension units.

“Lightweighting is top of the agenda for our customers,” said Russell Crow, director of engineering at Tinsley Bridge. “That is even more so when they are looking at alternative propulsion systems, such as electric drive trains and alternative fuels, because every gram they can save offsets the additional mass they have to carry for the batteries or hydrogen fuel tank.”