As the need for skills, tools, and resources for digital manufacturing continues to grow, collaboration between industry and academia has never been more essential. The University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) is leading the way towards building innovative solutions for Australia within the Centre for Future Materials (CFM). CFM is pioneering research and development in advanced composite manufacturing for civil, mining and aerospace sectors to name a few.
“We utilise our expertise and advanced manufacturing facilities to solve industry’s problems,” said Dr Tristan Shelley, Senior Research Fellow at UniSQ. “The majority of the CFM’s research is industry-focused and industry-guided. We’re looking to bring our research solutions into the real world to drive innovation and growth by bridging the ‘valley of death’ for composite technologies.”
CFM boasts one of the country’s largest dedicated composite materials manufacturing and testing facilities. With several manufacturing cells of an industrial scale housed within its facility, it holds world-class machinery that is the only kind to exist in Australia.
“We have our 8-axis filament winder for robotically actuated deposition techniques. We also have a dual ring braider which allows us to use robotic actuation to braid components. We can also pair it with our pultrusion machine, providing the capability to manufacture pull-braiding profiles as well,” said Dr Shelley.
To support the development of its projects, CFM has for the first time implemented Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE CATIA and SIMULIA solutions. Inspired by similar uptakes by industry leaders, CFM and Dassault Systèmes recognised the need to adopt virtual twin software to create a new automated and streamlined repair process solution of composite structures for aerospace. The Dassault Systèmes suite provides a tool to create not only Digital Twins for all stages of the aircraft components lifecycle, but the potential to create a digital thread of data from design all the way through to MRO.
“With composites, you’ve got multiple layers of material that are oriented in different directions and being able to implement a repair that is unique and most suitable for that damaged location is a challenge,” said Dr Shelley. “Other existing tools for digital twin could be used, but there’s no continuous thread of data that flows from the initial inspection through to the design and manufacturing of that repair patch, and then back into service; 3DEXPERIENCE provides that capability for our industry focused research activities.”
The solution, the first of its kind for the end-user, is currently being utilised within the Digital Twin of Composites Manufacturing & Repair Processes project under the UniSQ led iLAuNCH Trailblazer program. “The ability for the solution to be versatile and applicable to a variety of designs will be tested on two aerospace components, including both monolithic and honeycomb stiffened structures,” said Dr Shelley. “The outcomes of these development activities could be applied to all composite structures on an aircraft, including repairs to structures where the underlying stiffening element, such as a spar or stiffener, also resides.”
The Dassault Systèmes suite has been implemented for the first time across all stages of the product lifecycle, from design through to manufacture, service, maintenance, and repair. As a result, the CFM can deliver a digital thread of all discrete capabilities within the software suite, giving the end-user a competitive edge in streamlining their workflow. “We’re linking all the process lifecycle steps to provide a complete solution, significantly benefiting industry. CATIA especially has very strong capabilities over other CAD/CAM systems for composite materials. It gives us, as researchers, advantages when it comes to modelling and predicting the performance of those parts. Overall, the tools are very intuitive, and we also appreciate that the sharing repository is well set up for multi-institutional collaboration.”
“This collaboration allowed the team to produce a fit for purpose solution for industry. From an academic perspective, it gives us the tools we need to produce high-quality and high-impact publications. With the Dassault Systèmes software, we can now offer a complete solution in digitising Aerospace Composite Repair Processes, which would be much more difficult with the current available systems.”
To support the implementation, the Centre worked with Dassault Systèmes’ Australian partner and aerospace industry specialist MEMKO Systems. “The team at MEMKO has been really helpful in terms of understanding our needs, training and getting us up and running with the software,” said Dr Shelley.
Forming a strategic partnership that extends beyond the software, the two have also combined their expertise to offer industry-funded PhD programs, with two students being based in industry, with one full-time at MEMKO’s Melbourne office researching the digitalisation of composite manufacturing processes.
“For CFM and our relationship with MEMKO and Dassault Systèmes, it is just the start of what we will do together. We’re already discussing future endeavours and we look forward to continuing to work towards providing relevant and fit for purpose solutions to our industry partners.”