ESI Group stimulates parts with PAM-RTM for CATIA V5

Added: (Mon Jul 23 2007)

Pressbox (Press Release) - ESI Group stimulates parts with PAM-RTM for CATIA V5

SAMPE 2007, Baltimore (MD, USA) and Paris (France), 4 June 2007 � ESI Group (ESIN FR0004110310), a leading solution provider for physics-based simulation software, has announced the release of PAM-RTM for CATIA V5, which is mainly used in the aerospace, shipbuilding and automotive industries. PAM-RTM for CATIA V5 will be available for first customer shipments by July 2007.
�With this application, ESI Group is introducing a direct link between the numerical simulation of manufacturing liquid composite moulding processes and CATIA V5 Composites Part Design (CPD). It is seen as a major breakthrough that will help the engineers to reuse all the information generated during the design to create quickly injection/infusion models,� says Dr Patrick de Luca, Composites Solutions Manager at ESI Group.
To meet market requirements, ESI Group has developed PAM-RTM for CATIA V5 � an application to simulate composite parts manufacturing, which is based on liquid composite moulding processes, such as RTM or VARTM (Vacuum Assisted RTM). The 3D modelling included in the software now makes the study of thick parts possible and thermal management can, therefore, be optimised.
Currently, the use of modern materials and processes is the usual way to decrease the weight of parts, which is a common objective in the aerospace, automotive and shipbuilding industries. However, making thicker, larger and more elaborate composite parts generates further technological challenges. With these new materials and processes, it is no longer possible to rely only on traditional methodologies to design and manufacture such components. Due to the size of the parts, the traditional trial and error approach of tooling manufacturing would lead to unacceptable tooling costs, as well as long development lead times and expensive material waste. Simulation-based design is a way to address these challenges in an economical way.
RTM simulation has been used for more than 10 years to simulate the injection of parts with resin fibrous reinforcements. Recently, ESI Group has especially adapted the capabilities of PAM-RTM to the emerging needs of new aircraft programmes. PAM-RTM for CATIA V5 can be used to design and develop new tooling and processes for composite materials. It fine tunes the mould design and the process parameters in order to make sure that the parts are injected correctly first time.
PAM-RTM for CATIA V5 is the result of the full implementation of PAM-RTM capabilities in CATIA V5 and of long term collaboration with leaders in the industries involved. The software takes full advantage of the seamless integration of simulation algorithms within CATIA V5, as performed on the native geometry. This totally integrated application dramatically reduces the simulation cycle time by directly linking mould design and simulation results. It also allows the user to perform injection analysis directly on the CAD model, which ensures a consistent geometric dataflow in an iterative continuous improvement process, resulting in significant time and cost savings.
In the past, such analysis could only be done in an external simulation environment, forcing the user to export the geometric data and leave the CAD environment. Using CAA V5 architecture and components, the simulation process has been fully integrated, and PAM-RTM for CATIA V5 now offers a common user interface to the designer, with key advantages such as the dynamic communication between design and simulation results, with no loss of information due to geometry conversion and transfer.
ESI Group�s composites and plastics solutions include: SYSPLY, for the design of composite material structures; PAM-RTM, for resin transfer moulding and infusion processes; PAM-FORM 2G for thermoforming, blowing, diaphragm forming, roll forming, hand lay-up simulation of composites and plastics; and PAM-CRASH/Composite Module for composite crash and impact simulation.
About ESI Group
ESI Group is a pioneer and world-leading supplier of digital simulation software for prototyping and manufacturing processes that take into account the physics of materials. ESI Group has developed an entire suite of coherent, industry-oriented applications to simulate a product�s behaviour realistically during testing, to fine-tune the manufacturing processes in accordance with the desired product performance, and to evaluate the environment�s impact on product usage.
ESI Group�s products, which have a proven track record in manufacturing and have been combined in multi-trade value chains, represent a unique collaborative, virtual engineering solution, known as the Virtual Try-Out Space (VTOS), enabling virtual prototypes to be improved in a continuous manner. By drastically reducing costs and development lead times, VTOS solutions offer major competitive advantages and make it possible to eliminate gradually the need for physical prototypes. This integrated protocol allows all the company�s solutions to work with each other and with applications developed by independent software vendors. By significantly reducing costs and development lead times and enabling product/process synergies, VTOS solutions progressively eliminate the need for physical prototypes during product development, thus offering major competitive advantages.
ESI Group is listed on the Eurolist compartment C of Euronext Paris, and generated sales of �66m in 2006. The company employs over 600 high-level specialists worldwide, and covers more than 30 countries.
Virtual Try-Out Space� and VTOS� are registered trademarks of ESI Group. All other products, names and companies mentioned in this press release are brands, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
For further information, please go to: www.esi-group.com