Elastomeric bushing having embedded structures for improved thermal conductivity and damping capacity

Abstract

An elastomeric bushing for vehicle suspension includes inner and outer metal tubes, an elastomeric material between the tubes, and one or more bundles of woven wires (ropes or cables) in entangled or mesh form wherein at least a portion of the wires contact at least one of the tubes. The bushing has enhanced thermal conductivity via metal-to-metal contact and improved damping capacity to reduce heat buildup inside the material upon cyclic loading and unloading. The metallic wire rope, metallic wire ropes or wire mesh are embedded in the elastomeric material during injection molding where the ends of the wire ropes are attached to the opposing side walls of the inner and outer metal tubes or are spaced apart from the opposing side walls for tunability and to thereby enable a more effective dissipation of the heat generated inside the elastomeric bushing during its usage into the kinematically connected suspension members.