Sustainable ontology-based development and optimization solutions for fiber-reinforced materials and their manufacturing processes

Project description

Fiber composites are playing an increasingly important role in many technical applications because they give the components made from them very high strength with low materials usage and low weight (specific strength) – properties that are in high demand in countless areas of technology and everyday life.

However, fiber-reinforced materials have one special feature: their microstructure is only created during the forming process. The properties of a product made from fiber-reinforced composites therefore depend not only on the constituent materials, but also on the production process and the component design. The complex relationships between the starting materials, the manufacturing process, the operating loads, and recycling require a formalized description for a complete understanding.

The novel ontological description developed in the project, in conjunction with the data derived from materials, processes, characterization, and simulation (knowledge graph), allows the effects of parameter changes to be predicted and the components to be evaluated using real data. This enables comprehensive optimization from the material microstructure to the operational stability of the components, including their recyclability.

Semantic queries based on the ontological description allow researchers as well as materials and component manufacturers to access structured knowledge without disclosing proprietary data, thus contributing to the faster development of new products and solutions on a broad basis.

Fraunhofer IWM subproject:

As part of the joint project, Fraunhofer IWM is developing an ontological description of variations in materials microstructure and the resulting variations in macroscopic materials behavior, right through to component behavior. This will make it easier to control material variations caused by the microstructure and which are unavoidable for the material class. This will reduce unnecessarily high safety factors, increase materials utilization, and make the use of materials more sustainable overall.