Development and calibration of a structural simulation method of CF-SMC composite parts processed by compression molding

The need for the reduction in CO2 production in automotive field increasingly leads manufacturers to consider fiber-reinforced composite materials that are however costly to processes. Discontinuous fiber composite materials, like CF – SMC, are a competitive candidate because they are transformed by the high productivity compression molding technology. On the negative side, their structural complexity introduces high variability in the mechanical performance that needs to be considered at the design stage. This contribution describes the development of a structural modeling strategy for parts made of CF-SMC processed by compression molding. It is based the statistical material model proposed by Feraboli implemented here in a FEA-based structural analysis procedure. After validation and calibration of a specific CF-SMC material, the proposed procedure is applied to the simulation of the structural response of a compression molded part of complex geometry subjected to know loading conditions