Fatigue design of hydraulic cylinder made of composite material

The object of this research is to demonstrate that the composite materials can replace the classic ones (for example steel) used to produce the structural mechanical components. The focus of this study is a double effect hydraulic cylinder installed on the excavator. Its design has been addressed using three different materials: the composite one made of carbon fiber, the classic structural steel and the aluminium alloy. The analytical sizing was verified through the FEM analysis. The next phase considers the fatigue phenomena due to pressure variation in time in the hydraulic cylinder. The results show that the hydraulic cylinder made of composite material has a very similar performance, in terms of the safety factor, to the one made of structural steel and that the weight reduction is about 87% passing from 2286 N to 314 N.