VMAP – Virtual Material Modelling in Manufacturing

The lack of software standards in virtual engineering workflows and incompatible interfaces for the transfer of virtual material information not only cause additional costs and complex manual adaptation but also lead to inflexible IT solutions, loss of information and significant delays in the overall design process. The standardisation of material interfaces in CAE is therefore vital for all industry segments where material behaviour is central to product and process design.

The concepts generated within the VMAP project will be concretised in an open software interface standard and implemented in a number of software tools. The advantages of integrated material handling will be demonstrated by six industrial use cases from different material categories, manufacturing domains and industry segments. In brief, VMAP will generate universal concepts and open software interface specifications for the exchange of material information where necessary, translation tools that follow the open interface specification. VMAP will also implement virtual industrial demonstrators for relevant material domains and manufacturing processes as well as provide best-practice guidelines for the community. The establishment of an open and vendor-neutral ‘Material Data Exchange Interface Standard’ community will ensure that standardisation efforts continue into the future.

Interoperable virtual material models and a seamless transfer of material data history in a CAE workflow enables industry users to develop and produce better products in a shorter time and in more efficient manufacturing processes. Interface standards will also help CAE software developers and vendors to realise further virtual material models that can be easily integrated in holistic design, simulation and optimisation workflows. In Europe’s growing and future manufacturing market whereby materials technology is a key factor, especially in the rapidly emerging market of additive manufacturing for metal and plastics, an open software interface standard for virtual material modelling can have significant benefits.