ANSYS Releases Two New Simulation Software Solutions for Metal 3D Printing

Pennsylvania-based ANSYS is the worldwide leader in Pervasive Engineering Simulation software, helping innovative companies, like GE, create improved products by using its broad platform of engineering simulation software to solve complex design issues. Last year, in an effort to expand access to simulation in 3D printing, the company acquired 3DSIM to set up the industry’s only complete additive manufacturing simulation workflow. Now, ANSYS is releasing its new simulation software solutions for metal 3D printing designed to change how the biotech, automotive, and aerospace and defense industries manufacture metal parts.

“ANSYS is committed to transforming how products are made through additive manufacturing by delivering the most powerful, complete solution in the space. The possibilities are endless,” said Brent Stucker, the Director of Additive Manufacturing for ANSYS. “Our technology spurs the efficient creation of parts for some of the world’s most demanding applications, including military machines on foreign soil, spacecraft on other planets and even custom-printed human body parts at hospitals.”

If you don’t know what simulation software is capable of, think again. If you’ve ever used a computer, touched a mobile device, or put on wearable technology, not to mention driven a car or even simply crossed a bridge, then you’ve seen ANSYS’ innovative solutions at work.

The company’s newly released products, ANSYS Additive Print and ANSYS Additive Suite, will allow for faster, more flawless 3D printing of complex metal parts. The software helps users successfully print lightweight metal parts the first time around, as it can be used to analyze microstructure properties and behavior.

Many benefits can arise from metal 3D printing that could completely change the landscape of industrial manufacturing. We often hear that traditional methods of manufacturing just can’t cut it in terms of growing demands for increasingly complex products, which is why so many companies are looking for other, more economic solutions to build next-generation metal products.

Many are turning to metal 3D printing, but that doesn’t solve all of the manufacturing problems that arise – the current processes, while faster than conventional forms of fabrication, can still be expensive and time-consuming, which can limit trial and error opportunities during production.

But engineers can rest easy, because with ANSYS’ additive simulation workflow, they can see exactly what will happen during 3D printing. They will know, and be able to tell designers before they even turn on the 3D printer, how, why, if, and where a part will fail. Expensive trial and error, not to mention stress, can be greatly reduced if designers have the chance to design, test out, and validate part performance early on in the process.

The company’s innovative software solutions are able to help decrease these challenges, while at the same time streamlining the process, by reducing the cost, waste, and time of 3D printing, along with limiting any design constraints. Customers can feel empowered by incorporating simulation before 3D printing, as they will be able to virtually test any product designs first before printing any parts.

“ANSYS empowers us to reimagine how we build and fly rockets. We’re using additive manufacturing to build the world’s largest 3D printer and we’re using that printer to 3D print a rocket,” said Co-Founder and CTO of Relativity Space Jordan Noone. “With ANSYS’ streamlined additive manufacturing solutions, we iterate designs 10x faster and with 100x fewer parts — we’re innovating in ways that many thought were impossible.”

The easy-to-use ANSYS Additive Print provides results that highlight exactly what will go on during 3D printing, which helps speed up production and reduce build failures. This solution can accurately predict layer-by-layer distortion and stress, optimal support structures, and the final printed part shape, along with potential crashes and distortion-compensated STL files.

ANSYS Additive Suite provides metal 3D printing customers with a complete, powerful workflow solution, allowing designers to create, repair, and clean up CAD geometry and simulate the additive process. Additional capabilities include optimizing weight reduction, topology optimization, and conducting both thermal and structural analysis for data validation. ANSYS Additive Suite is available as an add-on to the ANSYS Mechanical Enterprise license.

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