Composites are engineered to blend materials that are often quite different in order to cut weight or boost strength — or both. Chevrolet Corvette bodies are made with fiberglass composite material, for example. Increasingly, the Air Force is turning to composites to improve airplane parts.
Simply to buy a “seat” or a share of some machining software can be $60,000, said Rick Little, president of Kettering manufacturer Starwin Industries. The software that the NCC’s new center is offering is comparable in price, he said.
Noting that half of his company’s work is in composites, Little likes the new center. “What they’re doing here is a great thing.”
The NCC is working with simulation software from Dassault Sytemes and Altair and hopes to also offer software from Siemens, said Lisa Novelli, NCC president and chief executive. Software-makers hope users will see the utility of their software, and local companies will get the benefit of the software without having to buy a license.
“We know that there’s a demand for this, a need for this,” Novelli said.
Rani Richardson, a specialist with French company Dassault, said the idea is to give manufacturers a place to design and test composite parts “all in a virtual world before they actually build” the parts.
“They do it all virtually before they get to the shop floor and waste time and money,” Richardson said.
“They don’t have to buy it (the software),” said Philippe Savignard, Dassault composite domain leader. “They can use the CMDC (Composites Manufacturing Design Center) to test-proof it.”
Savignard said the center is quite rare. He and Richardson said they knew of only one other similar center, in Kansas.
Brian Knouff, the new center’s manager, said small- to medium-sized companies will be the most likely users. Companies will have to pay to use the center, Novelli said. Fees will depend on how much guidance is needed and how complicated the projects are.
A recent symposium on the center and its capabilities brought in officials from the Air Force Research Lab, based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Honeywell, Zynex Inc. and other companies.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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