Solvay and MultiMechanics Partner to Reduce Time and Cost of Material Development

Solvay and MultiMechanics have partnered to develop a material simulation software platform that could reduce the time and cost of developing and certifying new materials.

Before partnering with MultiMechanics, scientists at Solvay were looking for a simulation tool that could perform the following functions:

• process inputs such as fiber volume fraction, fiber orientation, interface effects, resin ductility, material variability;
• handle the amount of explicit inputs the team required in order to properly define and test their new materials;
• quickly provide insight into how changes at the constituent material level affect the overall mechanical performance at the composite level; and
• shorten the feedback loop from new constituent synthesis to composite property determination.

MultiMechanics partnered with Solvay to address these challenges, and in 2017, Solvay Ventures co-invested $1.9 million to speed up the development of the MultiMechanics solution. Since then, MultiMechanics has enabled the Solvay team to understand their materials on a deeper level, expedite the material development process and enter into new markets. The team can now send new material designs to be physically tested with greater confidence that their new design will pass testing. They also have insight into exactly how, when and where damage will occur and how they can mitigate it, the company reports.

“Our Composite Materials Global Business Unit carefully reviewed all modeling solutions and, by far, MultiMechanics provided the best results,” says Nicolas Cudré Mauroux, chief technology officer at Solvay. “We are confident this software can accelerate innovation in complex materials and the penetration of composites in the automotive and aerospace industries. The accuracy and speed afforded by MultiMechanics, and its efficient integration with commonly used commercial finite element software packages, is changing the way we develop new materials and interact with our customers.”

“We shared a common vision with Solvay about how we wanted to push the industry forward, and they wanted to help us get there faster,” says Leandro Castro, CEO of MultiMechanics. “Since partnering with Solvay, we have been exposed to a lot of new applications that we had not initially thought about, so the technology has improved significantly.”

Solvay and MultiMechanics will continue their partnership to accelerate innovation in composites.

For more info, visit Solvay and MultiMechanics.

Sources: Press materials received from the company.