Abstract
The carbon fiber epoxy composite material and aluminum have many advantages over other materials because of their high specific stiffness and good fatigue characteristics. Basically, the propeller shaft of automobile requires bending frequency of higher than 2,700 Nm and high natural frequency of higher than 9,200 rpm occurred by fast revolution. For this reason, natural frequency and torsion torque characteristics of hybrid shaft was studied in variation of its outer-diameter and thickness. Vibration and torque characteristics of hybrid shaft were compared by torsion tester, natural frequency experiments and FE analysis. Designed hybrid shaft satisfied its vibration and torque characteristics when its outer-diameter was 60 mm and thickness was 5 mm. Therefore, hybrid material enables to manufacture one piece structure hybrid propeller shaft rather than current two piece structure.