Integrating Material/Part/Process Design for Polymer Composites: A Knowledge-Based Problem-Solving Approach

Abstract

Polymer composites provide the opportunity to design the material as well as the part. The domain for composites design can be viewed along three dimensions, namely material design, part design, and process design. These dimensions are not independent, and their interactions create important bottlenecks in manufacturing. Integrating these material/part/process issues becomes increasingly important as composite materials penetrate the durable goods markets and as high-performance markets become more and more cost conscious. Often these bottlenecks are caused by lack of strategic knowledge or the application of knowledge in the wrong context. To address these challenges and facilitate the use of polymer composites, a problem-solving architecture for integrated material/part/process design is being developed that makes use of knowledge-based systems (KBS) technology. The goal is to bring to bear the necessary decision-making knowledge at important junctions in the design procedure. Our current implementations include a system for material design and a system for elementary process design in the form of process technology selection. These systems and the problem-solving architecture are founded on a particular approach to KBS known as Generic Task Theory. These software systems are described in terms of their behavior, the underlying domain assumptions, and the knowledge representation constructs and inferences used in design problem solving.

References

1. Hulthage, I. A. E. , M. Fox , M. Rychener and M. Farinacci . 1990. "The Architecture of ALADIN: A Knowledge-Based Approach to Alloy Design," IEEE Expert, 5(4):56-73.

2. Hulthage, I. , M. L. Farinacci , M. S. Fox and M. D. Rychener . 1988. "Knowledge-Based Alloy Design," in M. D. Rychener , ed., Expert Systems for Engineering Design, Academic Press, pp. 141-170.

3. Pitchumani, R. , P. A. Schwenk , V. M. Karbhari , J. F. Ramsay and T. D. Claar . 1993. 'A Knowledge-Based Decision Support System for the Manufacture of Composite Preforms," 25th SAMPE Technical Conference, Philadelphia. October.

4. Pitchumani, R. , P. A. Schwenk , A. K. Kordon , V. M. Karbhari , J. F. Ramsay and T. D. Claar . "An Expert System Approach to Manufacturing Preforms for Infiltration-Processing of Ceramicand Metal-Matrix Composites," to appear in Processing of Advanced Materials.

5. Nitsche, A. , H. Kern and J. Janczak . 1991. "Composites' Design Based on Expert Knowledge," Proceedings of the American Society for Composites Fifth Technical Conference, East Lansing, MI, pp. 382-390.

6. Michaeli, W. and A. Biswas . 1994. "Knowledge-and Case-Based Computer Support for the Design of Composite Parts," ANTEC 94, pp. 2347-2350.

7. Harrison, R. J. and L. D. Roth , eds. 1986. "Artificial Intelligence Applications in Materials Science," The Metallurgical Society.

8. McDowell, J. K. and K. J. Meltsner , eds. 1994. "Knowledge-Based Applications in Materials Science and Engineering," The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society.

9. Chandrasekaran, B. 1986. "Generic Tasks in Knowledge-Based Reasoning: High-Level Building Blocks for Expert System Design," IEEE EXPERT, pp. 23-30.

10.

10. Chandrasekaran, B. 1983. "Towards a Taxonomy of Problem Solving Types," Al Magazine, 4 (winter/spring):9-17.

11.

11. Sticklen, J. 1989. "Problem Solving Architecture at the Knowledge Level," Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, 1(4):233-271.

12.

12. Strong . 1989. "Fundamentals of Composites Manufacturing: Materials, Methods and Applications," SME, Dearborn, MI.

13.

13. 1987. Engineered Materials Handbook, Volume I, Composites, ASM International, Metals Park, OH.

14.

14. McDowell, J. , A. Kamel , M. Hawley , J. Sticklen . 1993. "Domain Structure and Inference Strategies in Knowledge-Based Design of Polymer Composites," SAE Technical Paper #930167, Detroit, MI: SAE.

15.

15. Brown, D. and B. Chandrasekaran . 1989. Design Problem Solving: Knowledge Structures and Control Strategies, London: Pitman.

16.

16. Kamel, A. , J. Sticklen and J. K. McDowell . 1994. "Multiple Design: An Extension of Routine Design for Generating Multiple Design Alternatives," in J. S. Gero and F. Sudweeks , eds., Artificial Intelligence in Design '94, Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 275-292.

17.

17. Chandrasekaran, B. 1990. "Design Problem Solving: A Task Analysis," Al Magazine, 11(4):59-71.

18.

18. Simoudis, E. , A. Mendall , P. Miller . 1993. "Automated Support for Developing Retrieve-and-Propose Systems," Proceedings of the Applications of Al 1993: Knowledge-Based Systems in Aerospace and Industry SPIE Volume 1963, Orlando, FL: SPIE, pp. 285-292.

19.

19. Lenz, T. , J. K. McDowell , J. Sticklen and M. C. Hawley . 1994. "Case Representation Issues for Polymer Composites Design," position paper in the Working Notes of the AID '94 Workshop on Case-Based Design Systems, Lausanne, Switzerland, (August).