9th Conference on Industrial Computed Tomography, Padova, Italy (iCT 2019)

Virtual material characterization of composite materials in Simcenter 3D:

micro-CT-based voxel approach for stiffness homogenization

Oxana Shishkina1, Anna Matveeva1, Martine Wevers2, Stepan V. Lomov2, Laszlo Farkas1
1Siemens Industry Software NV, Interleuvenlaan 68, 3001 Leuven, Belgium, e-mail: oxana.shishkina@siemens.com
2KU Leuven, Department of Materials Engineering (MTM), Kasteelpark Arenberg 44, 3001 Leuven, Belgium

Abstract
While the aerospace, transportation, and energy applications are still driving the growth of the composites market, the use of
composite materials has also become widespread in people’s daily lives. Nowadays, these materials can be found in
electronics and appliances, sport, leisure, and recreation goods thanks to their lightweight benefits and multiple design
options. The usual composites design process is an iterative hybrid test-simulation process [1] in which numerical models
are built on the results of an extensive experimental campaign for the material database generation to cover critical design
aspects. Such a process is test-intensive, time-consuming and not economical. Therefore, engineers shift to more efficient
virtual product development. This concept is driving the development of Simcenter 3D Virtual Material Characterization
(VMC) ToolKit by Siemens PLM Software towards a complete and efficient multi-scale simulation process. The vision for
this approach is allowing the engineers material exploration and efficient translation of design requirements to material
requirements in early design stages [2, 3].
Composite materials can be modeled in numerous ways which differ in the level of structural details and realism. Often
modeling techniques use so-called “idealized” (simplified) geometry of composites (unit cells), which can be created in a
parametric manner using available software, for example, WiseTex (KU Leuven, Belgium) or TexGen (University of
Nottingham, UK) [4, 5]. However, real composites never have an ideal structure but are subjected to multi-scale geometrical
variability introduced by the different phases of the manufacturing process [6].
Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) imaging technique shows a great potential to visualize real composite structure
by acquiring a set of high-resolution radiographs using X-rays and after, reconstructing a three-dimensional (3D) image of
the studied composite using data processing algorithms. As an alternative to the idealized, parametric models, a voxel-based
approach [7, 8] was developed for a direct conversion (segmentation) of 3D micro-CT images of real composites into rich-
in-details voxel models, which resulted in the creation of VoxTex software by the Department of Materials Engineering
(MTM), KU Leuven [9]. After the image segmentation and orientation analysis, voxel models can be transformed into finite
element (FE) models to perform mechanical computations. The strong ability to determine the overall elastic properties of
composites with voxel models were validated, for example, in [4, 10]. The Simcenter 3D VMC ToolKit does not only allow
the creation of idealized models of composites [2] but was extended towards the voxel-based approach by developing
VirtualCT tool interfacing with the VoxTex software. The current work demonstrates the potential of the Simcenter 3D VMC
ToolKit for stiffness homogenization for composite materials starting from their micro-CT images (see also [11, 12]).

Keywords: composites, voxel models, finite element homogenization, automation, multi-scale modeling

References
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composite in Simcenter, The 2018 Simcenter Conference – Europe, Prague, Czech Republic, (2018)
 Siemens PLM Software
Virtual material characterization of composite materials in Simcenter 3D:
micro-CT-based voxel approach for stiffness homogenization
Oxana Shishkina1, Anna Matveeva1, Martine Wevers2, Stepan V. Lomov2, Laszlo Farkas1
1 Siemens Industry Software NV, Leuven (Belgium) , 2 Department of Materials Engineering (MTM), KU Leuven, Leuven (Belgium)
Introduction
Nowadays, engineers shift from test-intensive time-consuming development process
towards a more efficient virtual product development by application of advanced finite
element (FE) modelling techniques. Relaxation on the test effort is possible by the
application of multi-scale modelling concept [1]. Staying at continuum scales, this
concept relies on the detailed material modelling that goes down to the micro-scale (or
fiber-level) and sequentially builds material mechanical behavior knowledge toward the
meso- (or yarn/bundle-) and macro-(or application)-scales.
Virtual Material Characterization (VMC) ToolKit
The above introduced concepts are driving the development of the VMC ToolKit by
Siemens PLM Software (Fig. 1) towards a complete and efficient multi-scale simulation
process for materials engineering. The vision for this approach is to allow engineers
material exploration and efficient translation of design requirements to material
requirements in early design stages.
Figure 1: Simcenter 3D and VMC ToolKit covering hierarchical multi-scale and multi-physics
modelling of composites.
VMC ToolKit Functionalities
The results below have been achieved in collaboration with KU Leuven and UGent as part of the SIM M3
Program, “M3Strength” ICON project (see acknowledgements for details).
ü Micro/meso-scale geometry engine: random packing including voids or interfacing
with WiseTex by KU Leuven for textile composites [2, 3].
ü Analytical homogenization at the micro- (Chamis formulae) and meso-scales
(integration of TexComp by KU Leuven [4]).
ü Streamlined meshing process: dealing with different material phases and the interface
mesh (cohesive zone).
ü Local material definition considers yarn crimp and changes in volume fraction.
ü Automatic definition of loading and constraints including periodic BC.
ü Virtual identification of the elastic constants and complete set of damage-plasticity
parameters for the LMT-Cachan (Ladevèze) damage model [5].
ü Material data management enabling material traceability.
ü Micro-CT-based voxel meshes of realistic composite geometry (VirtualCT tool) via
the interface with VoxTex by KU Leuven (Fig. 2) [6]. Resulting realistic models can
account for material variability and can be exploited in the context of additional
physical attributes.
VoxTex (by Department MTM, KU Leuven)
is a micro-CT data analysis software aimed at converting micro-CT images of textile
composites into FE models to perform mechanical computations (calculation of
homogenized stiffness, permeability) and allowing to perform fiber orientation
distributions analysis, fiber and yarn misalignment analysis, assessment of volumetric
fractions of components (matrix, reinforcement, voids).
Figure 2: Micro-CT image analysis with VoxTex: (from left to right) voxel model, local
orientations, volume segmentation into material components [6].
VirtualCT tool modelling workflow: from micro-CT images
to homogenized material stiffness
Figure 3: VirtualCT for Simcenter 3D VMC ToolKit: workflow by example of a laminate
manufactured from a 30˚-sheared woven organo sheet [7].
Study cases
1. Virtual assessment of the effect of shear on the homogenized elastic properties of the
thermoplastic woven organo sheet composites [7]
Five thermoplastic woven glass roving-PA6 organo sheet laminates were sheared to
various angles: 15˚, 30˚, 45˚ and 60˚ in the hot state and, then, consolidated. Their
homogenized elastic properties were obtained following the workflow in Fig. 3 and
compared with the results of tensile tests. VirtualCT tool of Simcenter 3D VMC ToolKit
allowed a high-fidelity micro-CT-based reconstruction of the analyzed laminates. The
moduli predicted using VMC ToolKit showed being in a good agreement with the
experiments (Fig. 4, left).
2. Comparison of numerical and experimental techniques towards the prediction of the
elastic properties of a woven carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composite [8]
A woven carbon fiber/epoxy plate was tested under tension and investigated by means
of modal analysis to obtain reference values of the Young's modulus. In parallel, a
virtual assessment of the composite elastic constants was done using Simcenter 3D
VMC ToolKit, which included
• generation of an “idealized” unit cell in WiseTex and solving it analytically for
stiffness in TexComp (Mori-Tanaka scheme) and also performing FEA;
• micro-CT images acquisition of a “real” composite and following the VirtualCT
modelling workflow for the stiffness prediction (Fig. 3).
The study showed that voxel models built with VirtualCT tool predicted accurate elastic
moduli compared to the experimentally measured values (Fig. 4, right).
(left) (right)
Figure 4: Results of the study cases performed with Simcenter 3D VMC ToolKit for: (left)
organo sheets [7], (right) woven carbon fiber/epoxy composite [8].
Contact information:
Dr. Oxana Shishkina oxana.shishkina@siemens.com
Acknowledgements:
The authors gratefully acknowledge SIM (Strategic Initiative Materials in Flanders) and VLAIO (the Agency Flanders Innovation &
Entrepreneurship) for their support of the ICON project M3Strength (Grant no.140158) which fits in the research program
MacroModelMat (M3) coordinated by Siemens (Siemens PLM Software, Belgium). O. Shishkina thanks VLAIO for financing her work
in the framework of the Innovation Mandate Project “Micro-CT-based Model Generation Engine for Virtual Material
Characterisation” (Grant no. HBC.2017.0189). S.V. Lomov holds Toray Chair for Composite Materials at KU Leuven, the support from
which is also acknowledged.
References
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solution, 17th European Conference on Composite Materials (ECCM17), Munich, Germany (2016) 1-6.
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(2005) 2563-2574.
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Technology 67(9) (2007) 1870-1891.
[4] S.V. Lomov, Webpage of WiseTex suite, 2017. https://www.mtm.kuleuven.be/Onderzoek/Composites/software/wisetex.
[5] P. Ladeveze, E. LeDantec. Damage modelling of the elementary ply for laminated composites. Composites Science and Technology 43 (1992) 257-267.
[6] I. Straumit, S.V. Lomov, M. Wevers. Quantification of the internal structure and automatic generation of voxel models of textile composites from X-ray computed tomography data.
Composites Part A, 54 (2015) 150-158. // see also: https://www.mtm.kuleuven.be/Onderzoek/Composites/comptest2017/Day3_Session1_3_Lomov
[7] O. Shishkina, A. Matveeva, S. Wiedemann, K. Hoehne, M. Wevers, S. V. Lomov, L. Farkas. X-Ray computed tomography-based FE-homogenization of sheared organo sheets, in Proceedings of
the 18th European Conference on Composite Materials (ECCM-18), Athens, Greece (2018) 1-8.
[8] S. Nikolaev, K. Vanclooster, O. Shishkina, L. Farkas, S.V. Lomov, Mechanical properties identification of a woven carbon fiber-reinforced composite in Simcenter, The 2018 Simcenter
Conference – Europe, Prague, Czech Republic (2018).