A flexible spring element is made of a fibre-reinforced plastics composite material, a functional layer made of a fibre-reinforced plastics composite material being located on each of two mutually opposite sides of a central plane of the flexible spring element. At least one matrix material discharge layer extending parallel to the two functional layers and in a longitudinal direction is arranged in at least one longitudinal portion and has at least a fraction of discharge layer fibres which are oriented differently from the longitudinal direction of the flexible spring element. Within at least one curved portion of the flexible spring element a first volume fraction of flexible spring fibres in the functional layers is smaller, preferably smaller by several % than a second volume fraction of flexible spring fibres in the functional layers within the at least one longitudinal portion.

Disclosed herein is a manufacturing method of a spring pad interposed among a spring used in an automobile suspension system and an upper sheet and a lower sheet for supporting the spring, wherein the spring pad includes an insulator getting in contact with the spring to absorb shock and forming a body of the spring pad, and is manufactured through foam injection molding of the insulator to be lightweight.

Provided is a composite material capable of measuring bending deformation, the composite material including: a first conductive composite body that is bendable; a dielectric body that is bendable and compressible; and a second conductive composite body that is bendable, wherein the first conductive composite body and the second conductive composite body are respectively stacked on both surfaces of the dielectric body, and heights of the first conductive composite body and the second conductive composite body from the dielectric body are different from each other.

An end member assembly is dimensioned for securement to an associated flexible spring member. End member assembly includes first, second and third end member sections. First end member section includes a first outer peripheral wall portion. Second end member section includes a second outer peripheral wall portion. Second end member section is positioned in abutting engagement with the first end member section such that a groove extends peripherally around first and second end member sections between first and second outer peripheral wall portions. Third end member section is injection molded in situ with first and second end member sections such that third end member section extends peripherally around first and second end member sections within groove. Gas spring assemblies and vehicle suspension systems are also included.

Leaf spring comprising at least one leaf of composite material that comprises: a central body (1), and two eyes (2),
wherein the central body (1) comprises its longitudinal end zones (1.1) embedded in a cavity (2.1) of the eyes (2), wherein the sections transversal to the longitudinal direction of the central body (1) of the longitudinal end zones (1.1) of the central body (1) and the cavities (2.1) of the eyes (2) present increasing dimensions towards the longitudinal end of the leaf spring and that comprises fibre fabrics (7, 8, 9) of the central body (1) stacked in a Z-direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the central body (1) and to the longitudinal direction of the hole (3) of the eyes (2) and comprises fibre fabrics (10, 11) of the eyes (2) stacked in a parallel direction to the longitudinal direction of the longitudinal axis of the hole (3).

A method for forming a three-dimensionally (3D) printed flexible support apparatus includes: producing arrays of V-spring elements using a 3D printing system, each array including a plurality of V-spring elements arranged in a predefined array shape, and each V-spring element having a predefined firmness or hysteresis characteristic; arranging the arrays of V-spring elements in at least one two-dimensional (2D) array grid using the 3D printing system, such that at least one V-spring element of each array is attached to a V-spring element of at least one adjacent array; and shaping the at least one array grid according to a predefined volume to form the support apparatus.

A spring assembly comprises a spring with a coating, a spring retainer made of plastic material, an adhesive layer by which the spring and the spring retainer are bounded adhesively to one another, wherein the hardness of the adhesive layer is lower than the hardness of the coating. Further, a process of producing such a spring assembly is provided.

A dust cover is configured to cover an outer side of a damper extending in a predetermined direction. The dust cover includes bellows portions and a flange portion. The bellows portions are inclined alternately toward a radially outer side and a radially inner side in an axial direction. The flange portion extends radially outward from a cylindrical portion of the dust cover. The flange portion protrudes radially outward from the cylindrical portion of the dust cover by a dimension larger than a height dimension in a radial direction between a radially inner end and a radially outer end of each of the bellows portions. A thickness of the flange portion is larger than a thickness of the radially outer end of each of the bellows portions.

The invention relates to a roller casting method for producing a spiral structure, in particular a spiral structure for use in electric machines. Molten metal is supplied between a first roller and a second roller miming opposite thereto, wherein the first roller has first teeth, and the second roller has second teeth, said first and/or second teeth having tooth flanks with cavities for receiving the supplied molten metal. The teeth are designed and aligned such that the cavity of at least one tooth is at least temporarily delimited by the surface of a tooth of the other roller when the rollers are rotating such that the supplied molten metal is molded between the teeth while cooling and is molded into a section of the spiral structure.

An illustrative example composite leaf spring includes first and second bushing tubes near longitudinal ends. A ribbon of base material is wrapped at least partially around the first and second bushing tubes. The base material has a width that defines a width of the leaf spring. First portions of the base material are near the longitudinal ends and a second portion is between the first portions. The second portion is thicker than the first portions. A plurality of layers of a ribbon of tension material are wrapped around the base material. The tension material defines an outermost layer of the leaf spring. The tension material has warp strands in a longitudinal direction between the first and second longitudinal ends of the leaf spring and weft strands transverse to the warp strands. The warp strands establish a majority of a composition of the tension material.