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www.ADandP.media AD&P; ∕ JANUARY 2016 LIGHTWEIGHTING ( grantadesign.com ) has a new part-cost estimator that juggles the cost of a material and its process chain, up to two shaping processes, part size and complexity, both of-the-shelf and custom forms, batch size, and credits for recycling waste. Designers can still compare the relative performance of materials with diferent cross-sections, such as an I-beam and rectangular section; however, a new option lets designers choose a "free section shape" for beams in bending and columns in compression. These features help designers focus on low-cost designs—even when materials and design details are not yet defned. With new data covering fber composites, lubricated grades, fber-flled engineering polymers, and conductive grades, the PC-based software can lead designers to other materials than metal—results that both "reduce costs and meet stringent eco/lightweighting targets," says Charlie Bream, product manager at Granta. The new version also considers the galling resistance (adhesive wear) in metals. This feature, continues Bream, is well suited "to selecting materials for applications subject to wear by considering system parame- ters, such as materials in contact, applied pressures, speeds, and lubricants, and by considering diferent wear mecha- nisms, such as abrasive and adhesive wear." Fifteen new process records in CES Selector improve the ability to compare process characteristics and the relative cost/batch size of additive manufacturing techniques with conventional high-volume manufacturing. Those records cover 3D printing, deposition methods, photopolymerization, powder bed, and sheet lamination, as well as thixocasting and rheocasting. OPTIMIZE COMPOSITE DESIGN Parts made from composite materials are stifer, more durable, lighter, and generally resist impact better than similar parts made of steel, aluminum, and many other mate- rials. Nevertheless, according to Autodesk, Inc. ( autodesk. com ), while "with standard materials, using simulation throughout the design process is a recommended practice, with composite materials, simulation is a necessity." For virtual prototyping composite materials, there's Autodesk Helius Composite. In version 2016, nonlinear material characterization can now accept raw stress-strain data in CSV format or by copy/paste. The data need not be "cleaned" frst. Autodesk says that the new characterization routine "will account for any data scatter, stifening, or decreasing stress in the data and adjust as necessary to produce a better curve ft than previous versions of Helius Composite," providing greater accuracy during structural simulations. The only requirement is that at least 15 data points exist for each temperature or strain rate environment. The program now supports coefcients of thermal expan- sion (CTE) for linear elastic material models with fber-flled plastics. (Before, CTEs were set to zero.) Now, engineers can simulate thermal expansion with both linear elastic and elastic-plastic material models. If no nonlinear material data is available, the engineers can use the linear elastic material model. Composite structures are no diferent than conventional structural components: Bolt patterns must be engineered to prevent failures at the bolt locations. Designers must account With Autodesk Helius Composite 2016, designers can work on bolted connections interactively because the display of the composite plates with the bolts will update automatically. 35