Blank geometry design for carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) preforming using finite element analysis (FEA)

Weizhao Zhang*, Jiaying Gao, Jian Cao

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs) have attracted growing attention from transportation industry because of their superior performance over metal counterparts. The thermoforming process has been invented for mass-production of CFRP parts. This thermoforming process involves multiple steps and numerous parameters, and one of the most important process parameters is the initial blank geometry. To optimize blank geometry in thermoforming and minimize trimming work for the final part, an innovative approach integrating automatic mesh adjustment and FEA modeling method for preforming is developed as foundation of design and reported in this paper. Preliminary trial-and-error optimization algorithm demonstrates that this newly-developed approach can accurately design blank geometry under various typical process conditions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)197-203
Number of pages7
Journal48th SME North American Manufacturing Research Conference, NAMRC 48
Volume48
DOIs
StatePublished - 2020
Event48th SME North American Manufacturing Research Conference, NAMRC 48 - Cincinnati, United States
Duration: Jun 22 2020Jun 26 2020

Funding

This work was supported by a subcontract from the Ford Motor Company with funding from the Office of Energy Efficiency and enR ewable Energy (EEER ), U.S. Department of Energy, under Aw rd Number DE -EE0006867.

Keywords

  • Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP)
  • Finite element analysis (FEA)
  • Thermoforming

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

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