State of the art in virtual prototyping for extruded and co-extruded parts

摘要

Recent advances in CAD (computer aided design), numerical simulation and computer hardware have made virtual prototyping in extrusion a reality. On a typical desktop, a design engineer may simulate the operation of a virtual extrusion line, thus testing out new die designs and even testing out structural part performance. This is now common for PVC pipes, rubber seals, co-extruded hoses, multi-layer tire treads, multi-layer sheets and multi-layer films, to name a few. In this article, three different case studies will be highlighted, including a co-extruded rubber hose, a three-layer tire tread, and finally, an extruded rubber seal. In all of these cases, the entire process of virtual prototyping will be discussed, starting from material characterization to results analysis, and how to deduce conclusions based on these results.