The Composite Materials Manufacturaing HUB - Crowd Sourcing as the Norm

The Composites Manufacturing HUB puts composites manufacturing simulations in the hands of those who need them to invent new and innovative ways to capture the extraordinary benefits of these high performance products at an acceptable manufactured cost. The HUB provides the user simple browser access to powerful tools that simulate the actual steps and outcome conditions of a complex manufacturing process without the need to download and maintain software in the conventional manner. Learning use of the manufacturing simulation tools will also be accomplished on the HUB in order to allow for continuous learning and growth of the human talent required in composites manufacturing. Need for manufacturing simulation ! ! Simulation in the design of composite structure has developed during the past four decades to a level of sophistication that allows for the successful design of complex integrated structural geometries consisting of multiaxial composite laminates of curvilinear geometry, sandwich construction, adhesive and mechanical joints, as well as, monocot constructions that possess significantly less sub-assemblies over their metallic counterparts. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is one example of the success that this simulation capability has achieved to date (1). Here the forward fuselage shown in Figure 1 (40-ft. in length and 20-ft. in diameter) is designed and constructed as a single assembly. Simulation of the complex geometry and performance characteristics of this composite structure were enabled through geometric modeling, multi-axial laminate analysis of the material architecture and structural analysis of the forward fuselage structure. Sophisticated computer simulation codes now offer simulation tool sets that address these design issues. Simulation of the manufacturing of composite structure is not at the same level of development as that of design simulation. VISTAGY Inc. (Waltham, Mass.) recently announced the results of its composites engineering benchmarking survey entitled, "How do your Composite Design Processes Compare to Industry Best Practices?"(2) The results of the study revealed that only 56 percent of the composite design companies surveyed considered themselves knowledgeable in composites manufacturing practices and were able to apply that knowledge during design. This suggests that 44 percent of companies need to enhance their knowledge of the manufacturing process if they are to improve their competitiveness. The process for developing new manufacturing simulation tools remains in its infancy. Unlike design simulation software, the manufacturing of polymer composite materials and structures involves multi-physics phenomena such as the curing reactions of thermoset polymers, melting and solidification of thermoplastic polymers, flow and impregnation of viscous polymers in fibrous preforms and tows, consolidation of fiber preforms, conduction and convective heat transfer, geometric conformation of fiber preforms to curvilinear surfaces, residual deformations due to anisotropy in thermal expansion and tooling-composite thermal interactions. These phenomena span the disciplines of polymer science, rheology, reaction kinetics, fluid mechanics of nonNewtonian liquids, heat and mass transfer, mathematical topology, anisotropic thermoelasticity and viscoelasticity. While multi-physics analysis tools have recently been introduced, their use in composites manufacturing simulation is still quite early. There are commercial tools offer a broad range of physical modeling capabilities to model flow, turbulence, heat transfer, and reactions for industrial applications. There is a strong economic driving force from the automotive industry to accelerate the development of manufacturing design tools and to discover lower cost manufacturing techniques. More recently, specialized simulation tools have been developed to address specific aspects of composites manufacturing. There is a commercial suite of software tools that supports multi-axial laminate definition and generation of flat patterns for sharing design data with the manufacturing floor. This tool creates ply geometry by defining transitions with sequence, drop-off and stagger profiles that automatically populate the CAD model. It can determine variable offset surfaces and solids, including mock-up surfaces for interference checking, mating surfaces that model where two parts join together and tooling surfaces for manufacturing. The tool provides manufacturing details such as splices, darts and tape courses and can develop data such as flat patterns and data to drive automated cutting machines, laser projection systems, fiber placement machines and tape laying machines. Another type of simulation tool, uses finite element (FE) software to simulate large deformations of highly anisotropic materials in the sheet forming process. There is also a commercial tool that simulates the curing and thermal deformations of thermoset polymer composites. Its foundation is a coupled thermochemical-stress-flow model with a dynamic autoclave controller simulation. It is, in essence, a virtual autoclave, equipped with capabilities enabling one to consider the following process parameters: heat transfer/autoclave characteristics, resin cure kinetics, multidirectional laminates/fabrics, honeycomb panels, thermal expansion/resin cure shrinkage and tool-part interaction. These examples illustrate the growing competencies in composites manufacturing simulation, but to provide the most value for the composites industry it is essential that these simulation tools be linked in a manner that provides for the modeling of the complete manufacturing process. Only then can the true economic benefits of composites simulation be realized. Further, access to the current suite of simulation tools is limited to individuals who have access to large scale computing and to organizations who have purchased expensive licenses for the simulation tools. Entrepreneurs who will significantly accelerate the innovation and development of this powerful set of tools, as well as, the composites manufacturing field, are at a severe disadvantage, because the overhead of just one set of commercially available simulation tools is substantial. Composite Materials Manufacturing HUB characteristics and functionality The Composites Manufacturing HUB is a cloudbased cooperative platform that hosts composites manufacturing simulation tools that may be accessed with a web browser from the Internet. The National Science Foundation provided the funding to develop the original HUB concept. There are currently 20 types of HUB organizations using the platform and software. The most successful HUB involves the subject of nanoparticles. To date that HUB boasts 10,000 users worldwide. It has over 350,000 simulations with over 210 engineering tools to simulate important nano phenomena important in nanoelectronics, materials science, thermal science, physics and chemistry. Over 2,500 content items such as tutorials seminars and full classes drive the overall community to over 175,000 users annually. The user community connects students at all levels, research professionals, faculty and industrial users. Tools range from molecular modeling and simulation to photonics. The Composites Manufacturing HUB has adopted the same platform functionality, which allows users to access tools on a server via web browser. Tools hosted on the Composites Manufacturing HUB can range from simple tools that require only small amounts to computational cycles and those that require the power super computing systems. The HUB provides access to the appropriate level of computing power for each tool and user problem. Further, the platform hosts learning tools that teach the underlying principles upon which the tool is based and demonstrate the correct use and limitations of the tool. Examples of tools include simple engineering mechanics formulations and models of heat and mass transfer essential to simulate composites manufacturing processes. Molecular modeling simulation and uncertainty quantification will inform all the manufacturing process simulations to provide guidance from first principles and to account for process variability. The HUB will also provide a forum for evaluation of tool performance by the user community though hosted discussions and rating systems. The HUB community can post “Wish lists” on the HUB for discussion. Tool developers are rewarded for both tool use levels and the development of new tools through funding developed by the HUB. Tools developed and placed on the HUB are subjected to a financial analysis to determine their worth to the HUB and the developer is rewarded accordingly. Specific composites manufacturing processes is the focus of the Composites Manufacturing HUB. While the choice of manufacturing processes is initially limited by the tools currently available, the number of process simulations will be expanded by new tool development during the program. Indeed, it is likely that the available tools on the HUB will be continuously changing as tools are invented, developed and matured. Over time mature tools will likely be migrated to commercial support enterprises. As such, the HUB embraces technology readiness levels (TRL) of TRL 2 through TRL 6 and fosters rapid deployment of manufacturing processes poised for commercialization. The HUB simultaneously embraces technology readiness levels of TRL 2 through TRL 6. At the TRL 6 level, existing simulation software is provided to the user community with the goals of education the user community in tool use and establishing gaps in functionality required for complex composites manufacturing process simulations. The TRL 2 level work is the research necessary to address the scientific foundation of the simulation tools identified to fill the missing gaps. In this way, the Composites Manufacturing HUB provides a “food chain” for development of the comprehensiv