Innovative Rubber End Bush Design of Bogie Suspension for Tipper Application in India 2017-26-0310

In rubber industry, different techniques are used to enhance durability. This paper gives complete design, development and testing methodology of rubber bush in which pre-compression of rubber is used to enhance rubber bush life.

In bogie suspension, axle to torque rod join is critical as it has to transfer lateral and longitudinal load with flexibility. This makes challenging to design joint which need to carry more than 6 ton load and having flexibility of more than 10 degree articulation. In this torque rod to axle joint called as End bush, compressed rubber is used to carry high load with flexibility. Other possible material for bush can be brass bush which able to carry high load however not able to give high flexibility Design and finite element calculations are done to design pre-compression and rubber volume to get desired strength and stiffness to carry required load with flexibility. After design finalized, 2-3 iterations are required to finalize rubber hardness and composition to get required stiffness and durability. Once this End bush is made, different laboratory testing is carried out to verify durability and stiffness achieved. After passing laboratory testing, parts are tested in field and performed satisfactory.

This end bush has given high load, high flexibility also being rubber; it is light weight, has inherent damping so absorbing vibrations as well maintenance free.