Composite Design > Composite Design Workflow > Creating Plies > Create a Core
Create a Core
A core is a thick ply made up of materials such as foam, paper, aluminum, or honeycomb structure.
A core is defined by a boundary, rosette, material, orientation, drop-off, name, sequence, and taper. To create a core, you must first set up the Composite Design environment. To learn how to set up the Composite Design environment, see Setting Up the Composite Design Environment.
You can create a core in one of the following ways:
• Manual Core—Creates a core object by defining a boundary, rosette, material, orientation, drop-off, name, sequence, and taper. The core feature that creates the core object with this method is indicated by .
• Zone Based Core—Creates a core object by specifying a laminate zone for its boundary, rosette, material, orientation, drop-off, name, and sequence. The core feature that creates the core object with this method is indicated by .
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You can change the default prefixes of the name and the sequence of a laminate object in one of the following ways:
• Click File > Options. In the Creo Parametric Options dialog box, click Applications > Composite. Specify the values under Name Policy Settings.
Manual Core
Create a manual core as follows:
1. Click Core. The Core tab opens.
2. Under Type, Select Manual Core.
3. In the Boundary chains collector, select chains to define the boundary of a core. You can define a boundary by selecting a single closed loop, one outer and one or more inner loops, multiple individual loops, or multiple intersecting curves, edges, or loops. To learn how to define the boundary of a ply, see Example: Define a Ply Boundary.
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To invert the selection, click Flip Side.
4. To change the default rosette, click in the Rosette box and select a rosette from the Composite Tree.
5. To change the default material, select a different composite material from the Material list.
6. In the Orientation box, select or type an angle to set the orientation of the core relative to the X-axis of the rosette.
7. (Optional) In the Core Settings tab, change the following settings:
◦ In the Drop-off box, select Default or specify a value. When you select Default, the core will use the drop-off value defined in the setup. When you specify a custom value, that value will be used.
◦ In the Name box, specify a name.
◦ In the Sequence box, specify a sequence. Two or more laminate objects can have the same sequence.
8. In the Taper tab, do the following:
a. In the Sets box, select a taper set or click New set to define a new taper set.
b. In the Taper chains box, select a chain to apply the taper. The chain must be a subset of the boundary that is selected for the core, as shown in next the figure.
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You can also create multiple tapers, one taper on each tangent chain. For example, you can create four different tapers in a rectangular boundary. However, when you create a fillet at one corner, the edges connecting the fillet are considered as a single tangent chain, and you can create only three tapers.
c. Specify the values for D1 and D2.
D1—Horizontal taper dimension
D2—Vertical taper dimension
D3—Cured thickness of the composite material
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D3 is a read only value and it is displayed only for reference.
9. Click OK.
Zone Based Core
Before you create a zone-based core, you must first create a laminate zone. A laminate zone stores a boundary definition. To create a laminate zone, you must first set up the Composite Design environment. To learn how to setup the Composite Design environment, see Setting Up the Composite Design Environment.
Create a laminate zone as follows:
1. Click Laminate Zone. The Laminate Zone tab opens.
2. In the Boundary chains collector, select chains to define a boundary. You can define a boundary by selecting a single closed loop, one outer and one or more inner loops, multiple individual loops, or multiple intersecting curves, edges, or loops. To learn how to define the boundary of a ply, see Example: Define a Ply Boundary.
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To invert the selection, click Flip Side.
3. Click OK.
Create a zone-based core as follows:
1. Click Core. The Core tab opens.
2. Under Type, Select Zone Based Core.
3. In the Laminate zones collector, select one or more zones to define the boundary of a core. The zones you select must form a single closed contour.
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When you use multiple zones to define a core boundary, the zones must be adjacent, intersecting, or both. Make sure to avoid detached zones.
4. To change the default rosette, click in the Rosette box and select a rosette from the Composite Tree.
5. To change the default material, select a different composite material from the Material list.
6. In the Orientation box, select or type an angle to set the orientation of the core relative to the X-axis of the rosette.
7. (Optional) In the Core Settings tab, change the following settings:
◦ In the Drop-off box, select Default or specify a value. When you select Default, the core will use the drop-off value defined in the setup. When you specify a custom value, that value will be used.
◦ In the Name box, specify a name.
◦ In the Sequence box, specify a sequence. Two or more laminate objects can have the same sequence.
8. In the Taper tab, do the following:
a. In the Sets box, select a taper set or click New set to define a new taper set.
b. In the Taper chains box, select a chain to apply the taper. The chain must be a subset of the boundary that is selected for the core, as shown in next the figure.
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You can also create multiple tapers, one taper on each tangent chain. For example, you can create four different tapers in a rectangular boundary. However, when you create a fillet at one corner, the edges connecting the fillet are considered as a single tangent chain, and you can create only three tapers.
c. Specify the values for D1 and D2.
D1—Horizontal taper dimension
D2—Vertical taper dimension
D3—Cured thickness of the composite material
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D3 is a read only value and it is displayed only for reference.
9. Click OK.
Locate a Core Object
• To locate the core object of a core feature, right-click the core feature in the Composite Tree and select .
• To locate the ply or core objects of a laminate zone feature, right-click the laminate zone feature in the Composite Tree and select .
Locate a Core Feature
• To locate the core feature of a core object, right-click the core object and select .
Locate Laminate Zones
• To locate the laminate zone features of a core object, right-click the core object and select .
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