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COSMOSWorks helps take the stress out of
metal alternative
Company
Vyncolit |
Industry
Machinery |
Location
Belgium |
Product Used
COSMOSWorks™ |
Type of Analysis
Linear Static |
More Details
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Vyncolit's engineering phenolics have
a number of physical properties that make them
ideal for many applications which have traditionally
been served by metal.
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The Challenge
Vyncolit, based in Gent, Belgium,
believes that the best alternative to metal is a phenolic moulding
compound, a mixture of phenolic resin and a mineral or glass fibre
filler. Not only is it much lighter and completely resistant to
corrosion, it also performs extremely well at high temperatures
The Vyncolit team has been using a
high end CAD system with its own integrated FEA solver for some
time, and with great success. The past couple of years, however,
have seen a shift in Vyncolit's relationships with its customers.
"Until quite recently, our clients
would come to us with engineering drawings and specifications
and we would generate our own solid models and perform analyses
on them,"explains Wim de Bock, FEA Engineer. "But nowadays
it has become the norm rather than the exception for us to be
presented with existing CAD geometry, and we were having more
and more problems importing it into our software."
The Solution
Vyncolit estimates that only around 20 percent of models were
being imported directly for analysis successfully. For the rest,
extensive rework was required and this removed all the advantages
of communicating with solid model geometry in the first place.
In an attempt to address this problem Vyncolit began to look at
SolidWorks, initially planning to use it simply as a geometry
interface. "I had heard that SolidWorks was good for importing
geometry from other CAD systems and I decided to try to use it
as an import interface, planning then to export the clean geometry
to our FEA package," says Wim.
Having experienced the advantages
of an integrated CAD and FEA solution already, Wim decided to
see what options there where for SolidWorks and quickly came across
COSMOSWorks.
Summary and Metrics:
- Able to complete calculations in COSMOS that could not be
done with the previous FEA package.
- Faster solution time with COSMOS.
- COSMOS has eliminated much of the data rework that was needed
with the previous FEA solution.
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"It
was a complex part so really I just wanted to see if I
got the same results in both [FEA] systems. There was
no problem on that score - the results were exactly the
same. The surprise was that COSMOS was much quicker in
arriving at the result."
Wim de Bock, Finite Element Engineer
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