Composite Design and Manufacturing

Composite Design and Manufacturing

The digital twin of a composite part only has value if it can be leveraged throughout the product lifecycle. Fibersim’s open architecture provides access for best-in-class industry solutions to the complete digital definition of the composite part.

The HDF5-based CAE Exchange Format provides access to leading CAE tools. The Flat Pattern Export module provides optimized flat patterns for leading cutters and nesting packages. Laser Projection creates a true offset dataset that can be consumed directly by leading laser projection systems. Automated Fiber Placement and Tape Laying exports can be leveraged by leading path planning software for automated deposition.

All of these integrations are available regardless of the CAD system used to author the Fibersim definition – NX, CATIA, or Creo – allowing OEMs and suppliers to work on their preferred platform for design.

Manufacturing Definition

While assessing part producibility is critical to avoiding costly re-work, most manufacturing processes require incorporation of additional manufacturing details.

For hand layup, these are built-in to the Fibersim ply, with real-time feedback of different darting strategies, material width warnings, and automated splice group assignment.  For automated deposition, Fibersim provides advanced tools to account for minimum course limitations of specific machines and the staggering of origins for path planning.

Once the details are captured, they can be leveraged directly by the shop floor via exports to flat pattern, laser projection, and path planning software.

Manufacturing Definition Detail

Resolving material deformation, deviation, and fiber buckling before layup reduces iterations and increases manufacturing throughput. Fibersim does this with flexible, automated splicing and darting capabilities. Incorporating specifications, including staggered splicing, splice overlap, no-splice regions, and no-dart region, helps automate creation and ensures design and manufacturing requirements are met.

Manufacturing Documentation & Automation

Documenting a composite design for manufacture can be a tedious and error-prone process. By repurposing the composite design data already captured in Fibersim, the Documentation module can be used to automate the generation of accurate manufacturing plybooks, ply tables, and 3D data.