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09 Apr 2008  - 

The new PAM-RTM 2008

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ESI Group has announced on April 1, 2008 the release of version 2008 of its PAM-RTM (Resin Transfer Molding) simulation tool. First released in 2002, PAM-RTM is a simulation software application for manufacturing composites by injection or infusion. Industries served by PAM-RTM are those typically requiring the manufacture of complex and large composite parts, such as aeronautics, automotive, marine, and energy.

ESI Group’s PAM-RTM software allows the design and development of new tooling for composite materials production lines using ‘closed mold’ technology which allows parts of an enhanced quality and appearance to be produced.

Release 2008 marks a major milestone in the evolution of PAM-RTM with multiple enhancements, and effectively addresses current industry challenges in three major areas, resulting in enhanced part optimization:

Manufacturing large parts with significantly reduced CPU time
New multi-layer elements now allow easier modeling of large parts. The prismatic element requires far fewer total degrees of freedom, thus resulting in significantly reduced CPU time; in some cases by a factor of 9. Additionally, the availability of 64-bit processing eliminates traditional processing constraints due to model size.

Manufacturing thick parts with improved CPU time
The new multi-layer elements in v2008 enable the user to simulate the injection of thick parts without having to use standard tetrahedral meshes, resulting in significant CPU time savings.

Manufacturing complex parts easily via new user Interface
Simulation complexity typically increases with shape and laminate definitions. PAM-RTM 2008 eliminates this cumbersome basic operation of defining specific zones for material definition. The new user interface includes many new features and options allowing quick generation of complex models through improved visualization, and also includes new selection tools for groups.

“This new version of PAM-RTM brings a new vision for simulation. Beyond a more user-friendly graphical user interface, PAM-RTM offers new functionalities enabling a better representation of the process as it happens on the shop floor,” said Jean-Pierre Cauchois, Technical Director of PPE (Pôle de Plasturgie de l’Est, France), a leading technology center in RTM and infusion. “For instance, the flow front velocity representation gives added insight on part quality, a new equivalent permeability module is very convenient and we expect a lot from the new simulation time optimization,” he continued.

“Optimizing part quality is now becoming a reality with PAM-RTM 2008,” said Patrick de Luca, head of ESI Group’s Composite Materials Solutions. “The ability to provide simulation tools that increasingly optimize part quality is critical for the future. Achieving this objective requires further improving the accuracy of simulations, especially in the case of heated injection, which release v2008 accomplishes with its new thermal dispersion modeling capability,” he added.

About ESI Group
ESI Group is a world-leading supplier and pioneer of digital simulation software for prototyping and manufacturing processes that take into account the physics of materials. ESI Group has developed an extensive suite of coherent, industry-oriented applications to realistically simulate a product’s behavior during testing, to fine-tune manufacturing processes in accordance with desired product performance, and to evaluate the environment’s impact on product performance. The company employs over 700 high-level specialists worldwide covering more than 30 countries. ESI Group is listed in compartment C of Euronext Paris.

Source : ESI Group