Additives are an area where design engineers could focus a little more time and attention. When added to plastic resins, these chemicals impart a needed property and they also change the mechanical characteristics of the compound. There are also new technologies emerging that can save time and money. One I saw recently comes from Carolina Color of Salisbury, NC. A new process creates so-called “super concentrates”. “G2 has overcome processing challenges with a proven ability to provide exceptionally effective dispersion and distribution in both large and small parts,” says President Matt Barr. The new G2 product line is claimed to save up to 30 per cent in color cost and allow processing at lower temperatures, which can save up to 10 percent in cycle time. Part thickness can even be reduced because of improved physical properties. That also means reduced cycle time and clamping force. It’s worth a look.
A new process for laser-welding large-scale, steel-aluminum foam sandwich structures for lightweighting ships, which eliminates intermetallic phase, has been demonstrated.
A major advance in repairing composite structures combining robots and lasers bodes well for commercial aircraft such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350XWB, which contain composites in large proportions of their structures.
Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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