Chassis Components

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SGL's highly engineered glass fiber leaf springs open the door to optimized lightweight vehicle suspensions. Our leaf spring designs significantly reduce chassis unsprung mass, lowering vehicle energy consumption, and possess attractive damping properties that improve NVH. Additionally, glass fiber reinforced plastic is an inherently robust material in terms of corrosion resistance and exposure to environmental conditions - providing superior durability and wear performance compared to traditional materials.

Highlights:

Up to 70% weight saving
Almost no wear
High ride comfort
Functional integration of several chassis components possible

We offer our customers many years of manufacturing experience, producing well over 1 million leaf springs annually. In addition to the GFRP component, our scope of delivery also includes the pre-assembled spring bearing and other necessary interface components for the chassis.

Tailor-made solutions – from initial concept to implementation

We are vertically integrated with our expertise that ranges from upstream textile processes and fully automated manufacturing processes to downstream bonding and assembly operations. Our highly automated series production is characterized by short production times, high quality and excellent delivery reliability. This is the only way we can achieve an attractive market price and guarantee cost-effectiveness compared to conventional chassis components made of steel or aluminum.

Our leaf springs are developed individually together with the customer. Each product is tailored to a specific vehicle model to achieve an optimum performance to weight ratio.

Illustration of a longitudinal leaf spring

Longitudinal leaf springs

Longitudinal leaf springs are mostly used in pick-up trucks and light commercial vehicles. Both a linear and a progressive spring characteristic curve can be realized.

The individualized layer structure enables a targeted implementation of driving dynamics properties and ensures optimum utilization of the lightweight construction potential.
With the help of innovative design approaches, SGL Carbon has succeeded in realizing a two-stage spring rate with just a single spring leaf. This reduces weight and noticeably improves ride comfort in the transition area to progression.
The single-leaf design approach of progressive longitudinal leaf springs eliminates frictional losses between two spring leaves.

Illustration of a transversal leaf spring

Transverse leaf springs

Transverse leaf springs are increasingly being used in electric vehicles. Thanks to their compact design, axle concepts with transversely installed springs offer more installation space for energy storage units or other components.

By adapting the bearing positions, different spring rates can be implemented with just a single spring leaf. This significantly reduces the variety of parts.
Transverse leaf springs improving driving dynamics when cornering, meaning that the chassis stabilizer can be replaced in certain applications.
The conceptual arrangement of the bearing positions results in an excellent spring linkage ratio.

A man is sitting in front of a screen on which a visualization of a leaf spring can be seen.

Photo Composite leaf springs during the final quality inspection

We provide support in defining the requirements and develop the product virtually at the beginning. The technical implementation potential can be determined before the project starts. The right material is selected with the help of an internal material database. CAE tools combined with many years of experience ensure reliability for the end customer. We also offer the development and design of the spring bearing.

Prototypes from SGL Carbon are produced in near-series processes so that the transfer to series production is possible within low risk. Moreover, prototype tests can be attributed a high level of significance.

Together with the customer and the testing institute, product-specific test programs are created to ensure the lifetime.

Our fully automated production systems achieve maximum process stability and short cycle times, suitable for high 6-digit mass production volumes. Quality is ensured 100% in-line. Downstream assembly delivers a ready-to-install product.

Our production sites are primarily supplied with renewable energy sources and are also IATF 16949 certified.