Using the Material Addition Wizard

This task shows you how to use the Material Addition wizard to find the vertices where material addition is required,
and generate the required material additions.
Open the AddMaterial01.CATPart document.
 

  1. Click Material Addition Wizard in the Plies toolbar.
    The Material Addition wizard dialog box is displayed.

  2. Select the Ply group to analyze.

  3. Key in:

    • The Minimum length, i.e. the minimum cutting length of the machine.
    • The Tow width, i.e. the width of the tows/tape laid down by the machine.
    • The Lateral Staggering value.
      It is used for the previews and generation of the material addition, not for the analysis.

  4. Optional: Select the Turn off check box to minimize the ply crossing.
    • If Turn off is not selected, the lateral staggering is computed.

    • If Turn off is selected, only the minimum cut length is taken into account.
    • Turning the lateral staggering off is different from setting it to 0.

  5. Optional: Filter the plies by selecting a Direction from the list.
    All the plies with the selected direction are processed.

  6. Optional: Click More... for more criteria:

    • Key in the Required angle between tangent and ply orientation,
      i.e. the minimum angle that the ply orientation must form with the tangents.
    • Key in the Maximum distance with closest vertex used to group vertices.
    • Decide which vertices will be considered by default.
 

  1. Select one of the Usual Shapes icon to initialize the addition of material:
    : Adds a rectangular shape to the ply, with a 45/135 degrees draping angle, a 90 degrees shape angle, and both sides positioning (rectangle) for all vertices.

    : Adds a triangular shape to the ply, with a 45/135 degrees draping angle, a 90 degrees shape angle, and one side positioning (triangle) for all vertices.

    : Adds a triangular shape to the ply, with a normal return to contour, a 45/135 degrees draping angle, a shape angle that ensures a normal return, and one side positioning (triangle) for all vertices. The return angle may be more than 90 degrees.

    		  

  2. If a better balance of material addition is required, select Force alternate side.
    • If Force alternate side is not selected, the material is added always on the same side.
    • If Force alternate side is selected, the material is added on one side, then on the other.

  3. Click Analyze.

    The wizard:
    • Finds all the ply contour vertices with discontinuities in tangency,
    • Ignores those where the discontinuity is already the result of a material addition,
    • Checks the angle between the tangents at the vertices and
      ignores the vertices where this angle is too large, e.g.
      • This angle is valid:
      • This angle is invalid:
    • Checks the angle between each tangent and the ply orientation (displayed in dash green below)
      and ignores the vertices where this angle is lower than Minimum angle ply orientation vs tangent, e.g.
      • This angle is valid:
      • This angle is invalid:
    • Finds out whether a material addition is needed or not:
      it computes an offset from the vertex, equal to the Tow width,
      parallel to the direction of the ply orientation.
      A material addition is required if the length of this curve is smaller than the Minimum length.
    • Ignores vertices where the ply orientation is not consistent with the tangents.

    Then, the wizard groups the vertices

    • Having the same ply orientation,
    • Complying with the Maximum distance with closest vertex,
    • Having almost the same bisector as the first vertex of the group,
    • Having almost the same angle between tangents,

    Within a given group, the vertices are ordered according to their abscissa along an average bisector.

    All locations of possible material addition are then previewed in the 3D viewer,
    with some (not all) possible modifications, based on the active Default usual shape.

  4. For a non-symmetrical usual shape, click the preview to change the side of the material addition

  5. For any Default usual shape, right-click the preview to access its contextual menu:

    • Ignore vertex:
      • The vertex is removed from the group and no taken into account during the generation of the material addition.
      • The lateral staggering is updated accordingly in the preview.
      • The contextual menu changes to
    • Ignore group:
      • The group is no taken into account during the generation of the material addition.
      • The contextual menu changes to
    • l let you change the usual shape used for the material addition.
    • Other side: for a non-symmetrical usual shape, changes the side of all the material additions of the group.

  6. When you have made all required modifications on the previews, click Generate.

    The material additions are generated.
     

  7. Click OK in the Material Addition wizard dialog box to validate and exit.