Composite Material
A composite material is a solid material that combines the useful properties of two or more materials and overcomes the limitations of individual materials. Fiber reinforced polymer composites offer high specific properties, the ability to tailor mechanical performance to your specific requirements, and the ability to form complex geometric shapes.
You can create a new composite material using the Material Definition dialog box and save it in the materials library. To create a composite material, you must specify its density and cured thickness in the Composite tab. You cannot use the PTC_ prefix in the name of the new composite material because the prefix is reserved for the system-generated materials.
The subdirectories of Composite-Materials at the location <creo_loadpoint>\Common Files\text\materials-library\Composite-Materials contains sample composite material files for creating plies and cores. All these files are provided only for reference. These are unsuitable for production purposes.
When you create a composite feature, it creates a body in the part. For the body, the composite feature creates a system-generated composite material in the part and assigns the material to it. You can identify the system-generated composite material with the PTC_ prefix. The density of this material is the average of the densities of materials used for creating laminate objects in the composite feature. Hence, you should not assign it to any other body.
You cannot change the name and density value of this material. Also, you cannot change the properties specified in the Composite tab of the Material Definition dialog box of this material. You cannot explicitly delete the system generated composite material. You can only delete it by deleting its parent composite feature.
Properties of a Composite Material
The distinguishing properties of composite materials are as follows:
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Input
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Parameter
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Procedure
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Specification
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Enter the specification of the material.
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Architecture
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Select one of the following:
• Unidirectional
• Stitched
• Woven
• Core
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Constituent Fiber Angles
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PTC_MTRL_CONSTIT_FIBER_ANGLES
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Do the following:
1. Click the button adjacent to Constituent Fiber Angles box. The Parameter Properties dialog box opens.
2. Select a unit and enter the angle of a constituent fiber with respect to the material roll direction in an individual row.
3. Click OK.
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Cured Thickness
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PTC_MTRL_CURED_THICKNESS
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Select a unit and enter a real number greater than 0 to specify the cured thickness of a single ply.
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Uncured Thickness
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PTC_MTRL_UNCURED_THICKNESS
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Select a unit and enter a real number greater than 0 to specify the uncured thickness of a single ply.
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Roll Width
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PTC_MTRL_ROLL_WIDTH
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Select a unit and enter a real number greater than 0 to specify the material roll width.
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Warn Angle
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PTC_MTRL_WARN_ANGLE
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Select a unit and enter an angle at which an alert is generated when the material undergoes deformation. This deformation is still acceptable during draping. You can set this value as half of the limit angle.
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Limit Angle
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PTC_MTRL_LIMIT_ANGLE
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Select a unit and enter an angle as the limit of the acceptable deformation. Beyond this angle, the material wrinkles during draping.
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Mass per Area
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PTC_MTRL_AREAL_MASS
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Enter the mass of the material per unit area.
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Cost per Area
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PTC_MTRL_AREAL_COST
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Enter the cost of the material per unit area.
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When you define a new file for a composite material or open an existing composite material file, the default unit of the angular properties of the material is set by the cmpst_mtrl_angular_prms_unit configuration option.
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