Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWMTMF Platform
The main objective of the TMF platform is to provide sophisticated material models for the finite element analysis of thermomechanically loaded components in a comprehensive manner. A wide range of materials used in different areas of the automotive, aircraft and power plant sectors are considered, based on own experimental data, scientific publications and public funded research programs. Designing a component often requires numerous expensive and time-consuming laboratory and field tests. Our understanding of damage mechanisms and subsequent development of improved material models allows us to perform an increasing portion of component development using computational methods. This saves our customers development costs and time and increases component quality.
Sophisticated deformation models can describe typical material phenomena such as strain hardening, creep, relaxation and strain rate effects, taking into account microstructure responses and subsequent effects on mechanics, while the mechanism-based damage models can describe crack growth under fatigue and creep fatigue loads. The models account for material properties that change with temperature and allow for life expectancy evaluation, including the effects of thermomechanical loading. These computational tools and material model parameter cards are available for the commercial finite element software Abaqus and Ansys, and allow reliable calculation of the cyclic plasticity and lifetime of a component. The lifetime models are implemented in a post-processing tool, which can also be used with other finite element software.
Video tutorials and supplementary documents are made available especially to support engineers new to the subject and ensure a solid understanding of the theoretical background and application of the models. Experienced users can also benefit by refreshing and refining their knowledge. Corresponding finite element work packages are available for download so that engineers can implement the lessons themselves.
It is intended to continuously expand the pool of material model parameter cards for the ThoMat calculation software in consultation with the members of the TMF platform. This is especially advantageous for companies that do not require a complete material characterization of their components. Analysis and optimization using a similar and comparable material model can also inform understanding of the behavior of a component. The pool of material model parameter cards naturally also offers the possibility to benchmark the behavior of a component for different material model parameter sets, for example, enabling a company to set up a cost-life comparison of a component for different materials.
The Fraunhofer terms and conditions (AGB) can be found here.
The current status of the platform can be found here.
The source codes for the cyclic plasticity and lifetime models can be found here.
The access to and the content of the platform can be found here.