ANSYS and Granta Design Partner to Deliver Integrated Simulation Solutions for 3D Printing

Simulation is an extremely important part of additive manufacturing. There are many things that can go wrong with an additive manufacturing build, particularly when metal is involved, and a failed build means wasted time, material and money. Because metal additive manufacturing is so expensive, each failure is expensive as well, so companies greatly benefit from software that allows them to run through the 3D printing process in a virtual setting before carrying it out for real. This way, they can spot and correct problems and ensure that each build is perfect the first time.

ANSYS offers simulation solutions for additive manufacturing and is consistently releasing new modules so that companies can have the most up-to-date simulation software. The company has been around since 1970, and its simulation solutions extend to multiple types of manufacturing, not just additive. Recently ANSYS partnered up with Granta Design, a company that was formed in 1994 as a spinoff from the University of Cambridge.

Granta Design develops software for managing materials and process information in engineering enterprises and a series of tools for applying that data to key materials and product design decisions. The company’s customers range across a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, defense, medical devices, automotive, motor sports, consumer and industrial equipment, materials production, and publishing.

The partnership will combine ANSYS’ simulation software with Granta Design’s GRANTA MI: Materials Gateway for ANSYS Workbench, providing an integrated set of workflows for additive manufacturing data capture, simulation, and optimization.

“ANSYS is known for the accuracy and robustness of our simulation tools,” said Brent Stucker, Director of Additive Manufacturing, ANSYS. “By partnering with Granta, the experts in materials information management, we are helping to assure that ANSYS AM solutions will not only become more efficient but more accurate and reliable over the years to come.”

Users will now be able to directly access and use validated materials data stored in their GRANTA MI corporate materials database while working in ANSYS Workbench. They will be able to quickly apply accurate, traceable input data, which will save time and ensure solid simulation results. The two companies are also working to connect ANSYS Additive Print to GRANTA MI.

With the combination of solutions offered by ANSYS and Granta Design, customers will be able to have more confidence in their additive manufacturing builds before they run them. This will save money, time, and materials, as well as headaches.

“Our collaboration with ANSYS will help organizations working towards AM parts get it right the first time,” said David Cebon, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Granta Design. “By integrating physical and virtual methods and data relating to AM, we can help to dramatically reduce the time and number of builds required to produce parts with the required properties.”

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