Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWMThis main focus is on functional design of fiber and particle reinforced lightweight components and insulating materials.
Leizpig, Germany - August, 4th, 2015: Presentation of car body construction from BMW i3 on the production line in BMW factory in Leipzig. The car body of this vehicle is constructed with carbon fiber, aluminium and special plastic. That's why the BMW i3 is very light in compare with rivals. The manufacturing line was adapted for an annual capacity of 25 000 BMW i3 cars.
Lightweight construction is considered a key technology to use resources more efficiently and to produce high-quality products. In the picture: Carbon fiber is used, for example, for vehicle components. We calculate the effective material properties.
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Simulations in Lightweight Construction and Insulation Materials
Modelling, Simulation and Optimization in Lightweight Construction
In lightweight construction, manufacturers rely on less mass. Weight is saved not only by using lighter materials, but also by integrating functions and designing designs that are more appropriate to the load and material. Since both the materials and the design, joining and manufacturing processes are continuously being developed and refined, goods are created with the same or even better properties than the original product.
Lightweight construction is already being used in many different ways today. In both the automotive and consumer sectors (e.g. drill housings), fibre and particle reinforced plastics are increasingly replacing metals as a material. In the construction, leisure and sports industry (e.g. sports shoe soles), foams are increasingly being used and in the furniture industry (e.g. Billy shelves) the weight of MDF boards is being continuously reduced.
The prediction of the strength and damage behaviour of these components is complicated due to the directional dependence of the mechanical material behaviour, which is why elaborate multi-scale simulations are necessary for precise predictions. In order to reduce the high computational times, we develop model reduction methods that determine the effective material behavior, such as fatigue and damage, using microstructure simulations with FeelMath.
Modelling, Simulation and Optimization of Insulating Materials
Thermal or acoustic insulation materials are usually highly porous fibre or foam structures, which on the one hand should have the lowest possible thermal conductivity or high acoustic absorption, but on the other hand must also be permanently stable. The optimal selection of the material structure thus requires the determination of the different material properties and the quantitative evaluation of the conflicting criteria.
Based on microstructure simulations with GeoDict, we improve the fiber and foam structures with respect to their properties. In a second step, we can also optimize the design of multilayer systems. For the latter we also use measured input data.