BENCHMARK STUDY OF FINITE ELEMENT MODELS FOR SIMULATING THE THERMOSTAMPING OF WOVEN-FABRIC REINFORCED COMPOSITES

Thermostamping of woven fabrics shows promise for being a viable means for making high-volume low-cost composites. A number of research teams around the world have been developing finite element methods for simulating this thermostamping process, and in an effort to understand the strengths and limitations of the different simulation methods, an international benchmark survey was conducted for a double-dome geometry. Comparisons were made by observing the resulting draw-in of the fabric and shear angles developed in the fabric after stamping. In this paper, simulations results as submitted by the various research teams are compared. Where possible, the simulation results are compared to experimental data. Forming parameters for a next round of simulations for comparison amongst the participating labs are presented.