In this contribution a framework for the computer-aided planning and optimisation of functional graded components is presented. The framework is divided into three modules -the "Component Description", the "Expert System" for the synthetisation of several process chains and the "Modelling and Process Chain Optimisation". The Component Description module enhances a standard computer-aided design (CAD) model by a voxel-based representation of the graded properties. The Expert System synthesises process steps stored in the knowledge base to generate several alternative process chains. Each process chain is capable of producing components according to the enhanced CAD model and usually consists of a sequence of heating-, cooling-, and forming processes. The dependencies between the component and the applied manufacturing processes as well as between the processes themselves need to be considered. The Expert System utilises an ontology for that purpose. The ontology represents all dependencies in a structured way and connects the information of the knowledge base via relations. The third module performs the evaluation of the generated process chains. To accomplish this, the parameters of each process are optimised with respect to the component specification, whereby the result of the best parameterisation is used as representative value. Finally, the process chain which is capable of manufacturing a functionally graded component in an optimal way regarding to the property distributions of the component description is presented by means of a dedicated specification technique.

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In this sequel paper, the previously presented framework for the planning and optimisation of functionally graded components Biermann et al. (Prod Eng Res Dev 7(6):657-664, 2013) is applied within a case study. In addition to the application, the implementational infrastructure of the framework is provided and the preliminaries for applying the framework to the respective production system are presented. Hence, the practical realisation of the models and methods is documented. In the context of the case study, each step of the planning process is demonstrated in a visually assisted way. These visualisations are based on the specific steps of the wizard guiding the planner through the framework. As a central contribution, the specification of a non-trivial gradation and the planning of the corresponding process chain by means of the planning framework are demonstrated.

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