CAE of Thermoplastic Woven Glass Composites (Organo-Sheet)

Thermoplastic woven glass composites have been identified for high strength with low specific weight and cost. In order to accurately predict and optimize part performance it is essential to have good quality validated material models. For thermoplastic woven glass composites this is a great challenge as these material are new on the market and there is a lack of openly available material test data and knowledge in how to use this data in simulation programs. Two organo-sheet materials, with polyamide and polypropylene matrices, were modelled, validated and have been used for the structural performance a lightweight thermoplastic composite structure. This paper describes the measurement of material properties, generation and validation of material models for both polyamide and polypropylene based materials. This was achieved in three phases: 1) basic material modelling and validation, 2) modelling and validation of hybrid parts, and 3) application and confirmation in real vehicle parts.