Set the boundary schedules
For either heat or moisture, start with compatible material properties, a laminate and initial conditions. Define a separate surface schedule for each type of load.
Workflow / 03.4 Processing
Follow the process
through the material.
Set the initial state and independent top and bottom schedules, then follow the steady-state or transient response through the thickness before structural analysis. Use effective ply transport properties to study cure exotherm, cure-dependent modulus, polymer kinetics and water uptake or release, and compare candidates through process-cycle optimization.
Connected model layer
Processing model map
Select a block to explore its theory or workflow. Enlarge master map ↗ · Explore all stages
Browse model links as a list
Testing · Virtual Test Lab
Take the laminate into a virtual test: mount the specimen, connect the equipment and follow the calculated response. Start with D3039 tension, D7264 flexure, D2344 short-beam screening, or D3518 ±45° shear. Compare D7136 drop-weight impact, D6264 center indentation and D7137 compression after impact. Browse all test methods →
CDS2026a development preview
IR lamps and radiant heaters
Plan radiant heating with point lamps, finite tube lamps or rectangular emitter panels. Compare source geometry, placement and absorbed irradiation before choosing a process arrangement.
Explore the source geometries → · Read the setup and model limits →
Preview of active development. Availability in your installed or public Workbench release must be checked separately. Teaching hardware requires optical and thermal calibration.
Connect the equipment to the process
For pultrusion, link the heating and cooling dies and define their contact intervals. Open the die setup and thermal-contact guide for placement, equations, example settings and limits.
You will find Equipment directly below Geometry in CREATE, DISCOVER and SIMULATE. Select reusable lasers, IR/UV lamps, heaters, coolers or molds, then connect them to the applicable thermal boundary. Keep hardware dimensions, power or temperature, contact conductance, vendor and surface-material details in Equipment. Set position, angle, side and exposure timing in the case.
Changing a hardware record updates every boundary using it. Duplicate it first when a change should apply to only one installation. Rollers retain their Geometry records. A convection boundary can remain a prescribed environment without an Equipment record.
Explore the multi-zone pultrusion exercise →
03.62 · Thick laminate: reaction heating, cure gradient and process stress
Level 4AdvancedEst. 40 min
Connected study preview, not a live calculation. Edit inputs and inspect results in Workbench.
About this physical setup
Conceptual setup, not a solved result. Use the existing live process view in Workbench to inspect this exercise’s linked equipment, boundary settings and results.
About this workflow view
All blocks keep the CREATE / DISCOVER / SIMULATE positions, with Equipment below Geometry; unused records remain disconnected. This changes the view only, not the exercise records. The diagram shows the setup, not solved results.
∑ Used models & submodels
Only models assigned to records used by this exercise are listed here. The full-layout option preserves the supplied starter records; no Workbench records are changed.
Halpin–Tsai · T700 / EP180 UD · Thermal processing
One compatible homogenization model per Micro recipe. Separate recipes compare models; their predictions are not blended.
∑ Theory & assumptionsCLT · Linear static with failure indices · Plate — Nx Static Validation · Thermal laminate warping
Shared laminate stiffness drives this membrane/CLT path. Failure criteria are independent comparisons, not blended models. Fatigue is a separate assessment.
∑ Theory & assumptions1D transient heat transfer · T700 Thermal Process · Thermal laminate warping
Needs linked laminate properties and a compatible process schedule. A linked cycle is not a solved temperature history.
∑ Theory & assumptionsMaximum stress · Plate — Nx Static Validation · Thermal laminate warping
Primary ply criterion for Plate — Nx Static Validation · Thermal laminate warping. Envelope comparisons are independent; criteria are not blended.
∑ Theory & assumptionsData travelling between blocks
Micro → Laminates
Predicted ply stiffness, strength, density and expansion properties.
Materials → Micro
Constituent stiffness, strength, density and thermal / moisture properties.
Mechanical → Simulation
SIMULATION selects this case and its analysis model; the case owns its applicable cycle and input references.
Laminates → Mechanical
Ply angles and thicknesses, stiffness, mass and ply properties.
Geometry → Mechanical
Part shape and dimensions, thickness or section definition, and model-specific geometric inputs. Each selected case consumes only the dimensions its model supports.
Thermal → Simulation
SIMULATION selects this case and its analysis model; the case owns its applicable cycle and input references.
Laminates → Thermal
Ply angles and thicknesses, stiffness, mass and ply properties.
Equipment → Thermal
Linked lasers, IR/UV lamps, heaters, coolers and molds: dimensions, radiant power or prescribed temperature / heat flux, contact conductance, body and surface materials. Each boundary keeps its own placement, side and exposure.
Models → Micro
Applied model assignment: Halpin–Tsai. Model parameters and formulation are used by Micro.
Models → Mechanical
Applied model assignment: CLT · Linear static with failure indices. Model parameters and formulation are used by Mechanical.; Maximum stress
Models → Thermal
Applied model assignment: 1D transient heat transfer. Model parameters and formulation are used by Thermal.
Run the 6 mm laminate through the 120°C dwell with its linked resin reaction heat.
Models: Heat transfer · Classical laminate theory · Extension–bending coupling · Thermomechanical coupling
Study scope and limitations
Teaching inputs, not qualified allowables. Sequential coupling transfers the reported thermal/moisture state to laminate mechanics; it is not simultaneous 3D multiphysics. Inspect the transferred state and reference values before interpreting stress or curvature. Free laminate CLT curvature, not fixture-constrained distortion, a full tool-release simulation or calibrated cure-shrinkage prediction.
03.4 / Workflow focus
What connects to the next stepThermal and moisture formulations
Choose the steady or transient transport model for the study. Transient histories resolve the supported one-dimensional through-thickness problem.
Cure, crystallization and UV
Link calibrated material laws to calculate the supported polymer-state changes. For UV cure, supply the exposure inputs. For pultrusion, define the distance/time relationship and pulling speed.
Supported coupling
A process schedule alone is not a solved history. Only compatible coupled analyses consume recovered environmental fields; reference-elastic studies remain separate.
Tool-release shape
The separate free-release CLT study uses prescribed temperatures and effective shrinkage. It is not a tool-contact simulation or an automatic transfer of the thermal cure history.
Process optimization
Compare bounded cycle candidates against the supported objectives. Save the validation data, then rerun the candidate you select.
Build this workflow in Workbench: select records and connect the interactive Blocks →
Connected model layer
Processing · released model connections
Select a model family to follow its inputs, results, theory and exercise. All model families ↗
Follow the connections
Heat, moisture & manufacturing
Material laws & boundary cycles
Calibrated kinetics, modulus or transport laws and material assignment
Choose a model family
Transport & reaction
History & compatible process fields
Material laws consumed by compatible Micro or transport calculations
Representative exercise: this map shows its supplied records and active connections, not every possible configuration of the model family.
About this physical setup
Conceptual setup, not a solved result. Use the existing live process view in Workbench to inspect this exercise’s linked equipment, boundary settings and results.
About this workflow view
All blocks keep the CREATE / DISCOVER / SIMULATE positions, with Equipment below Geometry; unused records remain disconnected. This changes the view only, not the exercise records. The diagram shows the setup, not solved results.
Cure, crystallization & material transport
Independent model records can be linked together through material inputs. A saved model must be assigned to a material before it contributes to a simulation.
Model choices and Workbench location
Models → material-model folders · assigned through Materials
- Kamal–Sourour autocatalytic
- Kamal–Sourour with diffusion control
- Nth-order Arrhenius
- CHILE (degree of cure)
- UV intensity-dependent cure
- Nakamura–Avrami
- Temperature-dependent tabular
- Temperature-dependent thermal properties
- Arrhenius polymer thermal degradation
- 1D Fickian diffusion