Create Plies from Zones

Composite Design > Composite Design Workflow > Creating Plies > Create Plies from Zones

You can automatically create multiple laminate objects in more than one laminate zone using the plies from zones tool. The tool creates zone-based ply and zone-based core features which add laminate objects to the laminate tree.

To create multiple laminate objects, perform the following tasks:

1. Create a Laminate Zone.

2. Create a Zone Stack.

3. Create Laminate Objects.

Create a Laminate Zone

A laminate zone stores a boundary definition. You can use the laminate zone to create zone-based plies and cores. To create a laminate zone, you must first set up the Composite environment. To learn how to set up the Composite environment, see Setting Up the Composite Environment.

When you create a laminate zone, a laminate zone feature is created in the Composite Tree.

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.

To invert the selection, click Flip Side.

3. Click

OK.

Create a Zone Stack

Use the zone stacks tool to define stacks of laminate objects. You can use them with the plies from zones tool to automatically create stacks of laminate objects. This eliminates the need of creating each laminate object manually and saves time.

You can specify the full path to the default directory of your stack files library in one of the following ways:

• Click File > Options. In the Creo Parametric Options dialog box, click Applications > Composite. Specify the values under Plies from Zones.

• Set the Configuration Options: Plies from Zones.

Create a zone stack as follows:

1. Click

Zone Stacks. The Zone Stacks dialog box opens.

2. Under Stacks, select a stack to define. To create a new stack, click

. To open an existing stack, click

3. Under Stack definition, modify the rows in the table, as follows:

a. To move the selected rows up, click

b. To move the selected rows down, click

c. To add rows below the selected rows, click Add Row. Alternatively, click

. The default values appear in the added rows.

d. To add rows above the selected rows, click

. The default values appear in the added rows.

e. To mirror the whole stack below the last row, click

f. To duplicate the selected row below it, right-click, and select

Duplicate.

g. To delete the selected row, right-click, and select

4. Modify the content of the selected row as follows:

a. To specify a different material, click the cell that shows the current material, and select a different material. To define a core in the stack, use a material with Core architecture

b. To specify a different orientation, click the cell that shows the current orientation, and select or enter a different orientation.

5. To store the selected stacks to disk, do one of the following:

◦ Click

, to store the stack with the same name.

◦ click

, to store the stack with a different name.

6. Click OK.

Create Laminate Objects

Create laminate objects using the plies from zones tool as follows:

1. Click

Plies From Zones. The Plies from Zones dialog box opens.

2. The default set, Set 1, is selected by default. To add a new set, click Add set.

You can use up

or down

to reorder the sets.

3. Define the highlighted set on the right as follows:

a. To specify the boundary of the laminate objects, select a zone in the Zone box. To create plies with a different zone, change the zone, or add a new set and define the zone.

b. To change the default rosette, click in the Rosette box and select a different rosette.

c. To specify a stack for the set, select an option from the list under Stack. The content of the selected stack is displayed in the stack properties table under Stack definition. You can add or modify stacks with the zone stacks tool, and then use them on the fly in the plies from zones tool.

4. When similar laminate objects appear in different intersecting or joined zones, specify a way to merge them in one of the following ways:

◦ Do not merge—Create individual laminate objects as defined by the stack of each set without merging similar laminate objects between the zones.

◦ Match stack row—Merge similar laminate objects from different sets when the laminate objects are located in the same row in their stacks and have different intersecting or joined zones.

◦ Ignore stack row—Merge similar laminate objects from different sets when the laminate objects have different intersecting or joined zones. The laminate objects can be located in any row in their stacks. When you select this option, specify how to arrange the plies in the resulting stack in one of the following ways:

▪ Largest at the bottom—Arrange the plies according to their area, the laminate object with the largest area is placed at the bottom of the resulting stack.

▪ Largest at the top—Arrange the plies according to their area, the laminate object with the largest area is placed at the top of the resulting stack.

When the merged laminate objects have the same area, they are arranged based on the order of the sets. If the sets are the same, then the order of the stack rows is considered.

If a set of one of the constituent laminate objects appears first in the Sets list, the merged laminate object to which it belongs is created first in the resulting stack. For example, consider merged PLY_A and merged PLY_B. The constituents of PLY_A are defined in Set 2 and Set 3. The constituents of PLY_B are defined in Set 3 and Set 4. If the order of sets is Set 1, Set 2, Set 3, Set 4, then PLY_A is created before PLY_B in the resulting layup stack, This is because Set 2 appears before Set 3 in the Sets list.

5. Click OK.

The laminate objects are created in the Laminate Tree. The features that created the laminate objects are grouped in the zone-based plies group.

To see the zones of a laminate object, open the Laminate Tree in the Laminate Manager mode, and then add Zones column using the

Tree Columns action.