Material Insights by Material Type

Rubbers

The Role of Materials in Simulation-Driven Product Development

DatapointLabs Technical Center for Materials has a mission to strengthen the materials core of manufacturing enterprises by facilitating the use of new materials, novel manufacturing processes, and simulation-based product development. A whole-process approach is needed to address the role of materials in this context.

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Mid-Stage Validation as a Process Step in Simulation V&V

Physically accurate simulation is a requirement for initiatives such as late-stage prototyping, additive manufacturing and digital twinning. The use of mid-stage validation has been shown to be a valuable tool to measure solver accuracy prior to use in simulation. Factors such as simulation settings, element type, mesh size, choice of material model, the material model parameter conversion process, quality and suitability of material property data used can all be evaluated. These validations do not use real-life parts, but instead use carefully designed standardized geometries in a controlled physical test that probes the accuracy of the simulation. With this a priori knowledge, it is possible to make meaningful design decisions. Confidence is gained that the simulation replicates real-life physical behavior. We present three case studies using different solvers and materials, which illustrate the broad applicability of this technique.

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Workshop: Testing, Modeling and Validation for Plastics & Rubber Simulation in ANSYS

Plastics exhibit non-linear viscoelastic behavior followed by a combination of deviatoric and volumetric plastic deformation until failure. Capturing these phenomena correctly in simulation presents a challenge because of limitations in commonly used material models. We follow an approach where we outline the general behavioral phenomena, then prescribe material models for handling different phases of plastics deformation. Edge cases will then be covered to complete the picture. Topics to be addressed include: Using elasto-plasticity; When to use hyperelasticity; Brittle polymers – filled plastics; Failure modes to consider; Criteria for survival; Choosing materials; Spatial non-isotropy from injection molding; Importance of residual stress; Visco-elastic and creep effects; Strain-rate effects for drop test and crash simulations; Fitting material data to FEA material models; The use of mid-stage validation as a tool to confirm the quality of simulation before use in real-life applications.

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Determination and Use of Material Properties for Finite Element Analysis: Book Review

This book is intended to be a companion to the NAFEMS book, "An Introduction to the Use of Material Models in FE". It informs Finite Element Analysis users of the manner and methodologies by which materials are tested in order to calibrate material models currently implemented in various FEA programs. While the authors seek first to satisfy the basic material models outlined in the companion book, they make important extensions to FEA used in currently active areas including explicit simulation.

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Ejection system design: Optimization with SIGMASOFT Virtual Molding

As the demand for functional integration and the need of design differentiation in manufactured products increase, the complexity of plastic parts increases as well; thus some previous knowledge on effective ejection systems becomes insufficient and the challenges in the design of ejection systems grow consistently.

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