SGL Carbon has delivered its millionth composite leaf spring to Volvo Cars, reaching a milestone in the serial production of fiber composite components. The leaf spring is manufactured at the Innkreis site in Austria.

With this fully automated, scalable serial production of leaf springs based on glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP), SGL Carbon offers one of the largest range of composite components in the automotive industry. Compared with standard steel leaf springs, which can weigh up to 15 kg, a similar GFRP spring leaf weighs just 6 kg, making it around 65% lighter.

Besides a reduction in weight, the composite leaf spring also requires less space and ensures easy handling. Furthermore, the composite design means the leaf spring can be tailored to different models, giving manufacturers a high degree of flexibility while cutting costs at the same time. The leaf spring is part of Volvo Cars’ global SPA vehicle platform and is used in different Volvo models. SGL Carbon is also implementing similar concepts together with other car manufacturers from Europe and North America.