How can you incorporate material properties into FEM simulations of automotive components?

In general, Finite element tools (FEA) come with a feature called Material Model. It requires few parameters as inputs and it consider them while solving the governing equations for each finite element. Before modelling a material in FEA, we must know, whether we are designing the component with the elastic/yield limit or allowing some plastic deformation.

Understanding what you are simulating and what are you planning to achieve is the first step. If you are keeping the material withing the elastic region, you don't need to worry about plastic deformation, therefore you can get away with only knowing basic properties like Young's module, density and yield stress. But uf you have materials that behave differently from the linear elastic model, such as polymers and there's no room for approximations, you have to look for experimental curves to implement to your model at specific temperature ranges as polymers are very susceptible to changing their mechanical properties depending on the ambient temperature, at way lower temperatures than metallic materials.

For most linear stress and dynamic analyses Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio are needed to run the analyses. To account for nonlinear effects, for example: if the component is under high temperature, temperature dependent nonlinear stress-strain curves are needed besides Young's modulus and Poisson's ration.

To assure that you have reliable data there are some options: -Get it yourself through lab tests; -Find peer reviewed articles that contain the properties you want from known sources; -Get in touch with the material's suppliers or search ter website usually they have useful information.

Incorporating material properties begins with selecting the right materials for the automotive components. In a project focusing on lightweighting, we evaluated various composite materials for body panels. Conducting extensive material property tests and simulations helped us identify carbon fiber-reinforced polymers that offered optimal strength-to-weight ratios, enhancing performance while reducing overall vehicle mass.

A escolha do material correto têm reflexos n?o apenas na sua fabrica??o, mas sim em todo o ciclo de vida deste produto. Quando analisamos e contabilizamos os avan?os tecnológicos, conseguimos notar que a escolha de um material específico n?o se dá apenas à sua aplica??o (cumprirá sua fun??o previamente estabelecida), mas sim no que fazer com esta pe?a/produto assim que a mesma se tornar obsoleto: o mesmo pode se destinar à reciclagem? Se sim, quais os impactos de transformá-lo em matéria-prima novamente? Se n?o, como e a forma mais adequada para seu descarte? Precisamos ser sábios e visionários, pois o futuro depende de todos nós.

For selecting the materials, is always good to know the precedents of the analysis you are running. In the automotive industry companies have requirements ans rules for design that limit the materials that can be used for certain applications from previous experience or benchmarking, this alone can shorten the range a lot. If that's not the case, looking for similar examples of existing parts is always helpful. And keep in mind, there's nothing stopping you from proposing and applying new innovative solutions from new technologies in the industry or finding more cost effective solutions. It just take time for development and in some cases approval for use. The route you take depends on how much time you have on your hands.

To assign the materials, usually using pre-filled sheets and data, is not the best approach as depending on the source even being the specialized software they have some error withing. They are grat for getting a feel for the results or running a quick preliminary analysis, but not for accuracy. In this case you need to use the data you searched or got from tests or suppliers and apply it yourself as the inputs of you CAE. Also, always make sure to double check before running your analysis if the correct materials are applied to the correct mesh. Specially when there are many features to the simulation.

The best way to validate the material in CAE is to run the same analysis in the real world and then measure the resultas as best as possible, or at least in the most significant/critical points and then use this for calibration of properties.

One thing that nobody mentioned here is the importance of maintaining an up-to-date material database with version history. This database should be accessed directly by everyone carrying out FE analyses as an include file within the input deck. This is a fundamental requirement for analysis validation. I have seen too many analysts using local copies of material databases or creating and not sharing new material data. This is a disaster waiting to happen.