Cadfil Material Recipes

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Overview

From Cadfil 9.73 it is possible to use resin and fibre data to create a pre-made 'recipe' of a fibre and a resin in a set volume fraction.
These recipes can be created in the cadfil_material_data.xlsx spreadsheet, which is found in the Cadfil install folder C:\Cadfil\Cadfil9xx and which is described in detail in the material database topic.

Creating a recipe

The picture above shows 2 example recipes which already exist in the spreadsheet. The category must be set as 'Recipe', and the type set as 'Wind_Mate'. The Recipe Description is the title which you want to give for your recipe. The Fibre description and Resin description must be identical to a fibre and a resin as named in the fibre and resin categories further up the spreadsheet. The volume fraction, bandwidth, band thickness and number of rovings can then be set to complete the data set.

Using the recipe in Cadfil

Cadfil gives you the option to set materials. This can be done in the Main Options, in the 'set materials' option, but it is also possible to do this from Material Buttons in some of the QuickCAD Dialogs.

From this menu, a previously created recipe can be chosen from the drop down box at the top. If you do not wish to use the recipe options, then the 'Use Recipe' box can be unticked to allow the other variables to be changed.

The Roving type can be changed from  the pull down menu. The Roving description pull down will show all the rovings of the current roving type that are in the database. A roving material can be selected by clicking on it from the pull down menu. The same logic applies to resin type and resin description. The current selections are the ones shown in the dialog and the properties are the current properties that apply to this selection. The material data is fixed in the database the only one that the user can override /change on this screen is the roving width (band-width).

Most parameters cannot be changed they are database values and are shown grey, some of the non-grey parameters are active and can be changed such as number of rovings, or volume/mass fraction. You should set the expect fibre volume fraction or fibre mass fraction for the final composite that has been determined from previous winding or experience. The calculate button allows t0 and bandwidth to be updated. Band width is roving width x Number of rovings and the t0 thickness given the specified material properties and fibre fraction. The 'calculate' is also automatically performed when the screen is exited with the OK option.

Note that Band Width and Band thickness are the only parameters required to calculate a winding program.

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