Using carbon fiber base materials such as non-crimp fabrics (NCFs) is becoming common especially in aircraft. Forming these materials into complex-shaped products causes defects such as fiber wrinkling. Although the forming conditions are generally adjusted for better quality, it is more effective to make the fiber base material itself more formable. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. is developing technology in which a mesoscale material model is used to simulate the forming process and predict the material's microscopic deformation behavior, with the aim of improving the simulation accuracy and adjusting the fabric architecture. This report presents the results of a comparison between the mesoscale NCF material model-based simulation of an elemental part forming process and the forming test, as well as the simulation assessment results of the impact of NCF fabric architecture on the formability.
