web handling of thin foils at high temperatures.
Structural mechanics & Fluid flow & Thermal engineering

web handling of thin foils at high temperatures.

Web handling involves the processing of thin materials through a processing setup using industrial machinery. Common types of web handling processes include coating, laminating, and metallizing. However, thin structures are hard to handle. Enhanced web handling will help to make better and more advanced products needed for cutting edge applications. Products become lighter, thinner, more powerful and more flexible.

During the production of semi-finished products, layers are deposited at high temperatures on a substrate material to create thin foil structures.However, as the foils get thinner and wider, especially web handling becomes an issue. 

Thin foils can start to crack as the handling forces are relatively large when materials are getting weaker at high temperatures. Moreover, thin foils are getting extremely flexible at high temperatures possibly causing foils to buckle or wrinkle.

simulation of web handling.

The process of web handling at high temperatures can be modelled with a multistep approach. First, temperature profiles of the foils can be determined by including thermal components such as heaters, insulators, and heat distributors. Second, the deformations can be determined which are caused by thermal expansions and web handling forces such as web tension controllers, roller interaction, spraying processes, or air nozzles.

In this way existing processes can be investigated and critical process parameters can be determined from sensitivity analyses. Moreover, new designs can be realized from scratch, for example based on web rollers, a flotation oven, or a vertical oven concept. Figures 1 and 2 give examples of a flotation oven to manipulate a thin foil. Simulations give the opportunity to form concept choices based on fundamental insight and to do production process optimisation.

Figure 1 Schematic representation of a flotation oven used to heat up foils to a desired temperature.
Figure 1 Schematic representation of a flotation oven used to heat up foils to a desired temperature.

depostion on a foil.

An interesting project entailed the optimisation of an existing system. A sensitivity study was performed on how a thin film can be deposited on a foil using a spraying technology. It included fluid flow simulations showing how the spray heated up the foil and which impact it had on the buckling behavior of the foil. These simulations were used to optimize the system. Example results are shown in Figure 3.

Another example project included feasibility studies to determine the advantages and disadvantages of different concepts. Various concepts were selected and examined based on crucial criteria, such as, robustness, size of the system and maintenance. Especially the robustness criterion involves extensive engineering work. It starts by fundamental hand calculations to create an initial design. Subsequently, simulations will help to demonstrate its feasibility and finetune the design. Based on this work a concept choice was recommended to realize. For the evaluation of a specific concept, the thermal situation was modelled and expected wrinkling shapes were determined as shown in Figure 4. This serves as input for further design of the concept.

Figure 2 The air and foil temperature inside a flotation oven is designed using comprehensive simulation models. (1)
Figure 3 Pressure profile on the foil determined by flow simulations resulting in wrinkles at elevated temperature of the foil.
Figure 4 Designed temperature profile for a flotation oven concept resulting in stresses which initiate wrinkling behavior.

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Demcon multiphysics is an engineering agency with high-end expertise in the area of heat transfer, fluid dynamics, structural mechanics, acoustics, electromagnetism and nuclear physics. We support clients from a wide variety of market sectors and help them achieve their goals in research and development with deep physical insights.

We combine fundamental physical knowledge from an analytical approach with Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) simulations tools from ANSYS, MATHWORKS, COMSOL, STAR-CCM+ and FLUKA to setup, execute, analyze and evaluate numerical simulations. The use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Finite Element Analysis (FEM / FEA), Lumped Element Modelling (LEM), Computational Electromagnetics (CEM) and Monte Carlo simulations enables us to make a virtual prototype of your design. With these techniques we can simulate the fluid and gas flows, energy exchange, heat and mass transfer, stresses, strains and vibrations in structures and the interaction of electromagnetic fields with other physical aspects like heat generation. Simulation-driven product development increases the development efficiency and reduces the product development time. Our services can therefore fully support you in the designing phase, from idea up to prototype, from prototype to final design.

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