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Creating Composite Materials
RadTherm allows three - layer part type
assignments to planar geometry for modeling
layered surfaces. Three different materials with
individual thicknesses can be specified,
including an air gap as the middle layer. For modeling more
than three layers of materials, a “composite
material” of two or more layers can be created
which has the same thermal conductivity of as
the original layers. Up to 5 layers can be
expressed as a single equivalent layer. Before
starting the composite material builder, you need
to identify the materials and thicknesses of the
original layers. You can either enter these
materials into a TDF-file (TDF is the native file
format for ThermoAnalytics’ models) by
clicking Add on the Editor> Material> Materials tab or
you can enter them directly into the Composite
Builder Program. Note: If you enter the data into
a TDF file, then you have a permanent record
and will not need to enter the data again in the
future.
Step 1: Start
the TDFUtility program and
choose File>
Open to
open a TDF file containing the
materials you wish to include
in a composite, or click on
the Materials
tab
to enter the original material
names and properties.
Step 2: Click
on the Materials
tab
to confirm that the base
materials you need are
available in the list. If they
are not, you can add new
materials to the list and
enter their properties.
Step 3: Click
on the Layers tab to begin
assigning base materials to a
composite. Note: The
Layers tab shows three
sub-tabs First Layer, Second
Layer, and Third Layer. Each
of these sub-tabs is
independent - they simply let
you create three different
composites in a single session
and save them into a single
data file as three new,
independent composite
materials. On the Layers
> First Layer tab,
enter a descriptive name for
the first composite; in this
example we chose AL-Rubber-AL.
Step 4: Click
on the check boxes for each
base material you wish to add,
enter the thickness of the
material, and use the
pull-down arrow to select the
material from the list. If you
wish to create only one
composite material in this
session, go to Step 7.
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Step
5: If
you wish create another
composite material in this
session, click on the Second
Layer sub-tab, Click on the
Enable check box, and enter a
new descriptive name, and add
materials with respective
thicknesses as in Step 4. For
this example, we chose the
name Cu-Al.
Step 6: If
you wish create a third
composite material in this
session, click on the Third
Layer sub-tab, Click on the
Enable check box, and enter a
new descriptive name, and add
materials with respective
thicknesses as in Step 4. For
this example, we chose the
name PMMA-ABS.
Step 7: When
you have all of the data
entered, click Calculate at
the very bottom of the program
window. This will prompt you
for a file name to store the
new, composite material data.
Select an appropriate
directory and give the file a
descriptive name. In this
example, we chose
Composites-7layers.
Step 8: Start
your RadTherm, WinTherm, or
MuSES software and open the
model file where the composite
materials will be used. Click
on the Editor>
Material> Materials Tab
and then click the Import
button
at the bottom of the tab.
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Step
9: Click
on the RadTherm 4.X Radial
Button and click the Browse
button to the right of the
Material File Name box. Locate
the file you created in Step
7. In this example, we created
Composites-7layers.data.
Select the file and click OK.
The materials will be loaded
into the RadTherm materials
list with the appropriate
total thickness for this
composite added to the
descriptive name(s) you
entered in step(s) 3-6. The
new material(s) are added to
the bottom of the list, so you
may need to scroll down to
locate them.
Step 10: You
can now use the composite
materials as desired, as long
as you enter the correct
thickness in millimeters,
shown in the name of the
material. The
thickness shown in the name
MUST be used for the composite
to simulate the proper total
thermal resistance.
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