From Simulation to Manufacturing: Insights from the IVW CAE-Lab

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Innovation begins with curiosity and the willingness to explore beyond familiar boundaries. This year, Dr. Miro Duhovic's course "CAE with Composite Materials" provided students with an engaging opportunity to connect simulation with practical manufacturing processes.

Course Highlights:

  • Students worked with advanced tools based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) to optimize laminate designs and simulate manufacturing processes.
  • They calculated mechanical properties and determined infusion times for vacuum infusion processes.
  • In the IVW lab, theory met practice: Teams produced their simulated designs, manufactured them using the vacuum infusion process, and compared the results to real material properties through mechanical testing.

This hands-on approach showcased how digitalization and manufacturing technology come together, providing students with a deeper understanding of real-world challenges in composite materials production.

Special thanks to Alexander Faas, Jan Janzen, Dominic Schommer, Holger Franz, Lars Bolzer and Stefan Gabriel for their help with the practical part of the course (including both manufacturing and testing).

Students preparing their hat-profile component for manufacturing via vacuum assisted resin infusion (VARI)

Vacuum assisted resin infusion (VARI) of a hat-profile component

Mechanical testing of a hat-profile component in 3-point bending

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