Oct 21, 2016 | By Benedict

Global technology company Siemens has unveiled a new end-to-end additive manufacturing software package, covering design through simulation and production. The solution, offered by the company’s product lifecycle management (PLM) arm, will begin rolling out in January 2017.

With additive manufacturing now considered a serious means of part production, more and more businesses are looking for end-to-end solutions through which they can oversee the entire 3D printing product cycle, from design, to simulation, to production. A new additive manufacturing solution from Siemens PLM appears to meet the needs of those businesses, offering the full package of integrated design, simulation, digital manufacturing, data, and process management software. According to Siemens, the forthcoming integrated solution will use smart product models through all phases, removing the need for conversion or translation between applications or processes, and could drastically benefit those in the automotive, aerospace, and medical device industries.

The new additive manufacturing solution will include:

Siemens’ NX™ software, an integrated computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE) solution

Simcenter™ portfolio, a robust suite of simulation software and test solutions

Teamcenter® software, a popular digital lifecycle management system

SIMATIC IT Unified Architecture Discrete Manufacturing and SIMATIC WinCC, two elements of Siemens’ recognized Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) portfolio for production execution and manufacturing automation

Starting with the solution’s design capabilities, Siemens’ NX software has embraced topology optimization and Convergent Modeling, two forms of computer-assisted generative design which can be used to deliver increased strength/weight ratios in parts. Topology optimization, which often produces organic shapes that would be difficult for a human designer to envision, will help analysts automate the iterative process for designing and optimizing parts for multi-physics performance including vibration, fluid dynamics, and heat transfer.

Convergent Modeling, a brand new modeling paradigm, will help engineers optimize part design for 3D printing, speed up the overall design process, and provide scan-to-print functionality, making reverse engineering more efficient. It will also simplify the process of working with geometries consisting of a combination of facets, surfaces, and solids, without the need for time-consuming data conversion. Both techniques will help manufacturers reduce the material costs of a design while maintaining its core properties.

In addition to using generative design techniques, the NX design package will also help users prepare their designs for 3D printing, whether for metal or plastic parts, using powder bed or multi-jet fusion printing. For 3D printed metal parts, NX provides model preparation for laser metal deposition and NC programming, including simulation for hybrid additive machine tools, where metal deposition is incorporated with subtractive methods in a single machine tool environment. For extruded materials such as plastics, a new multi-axis robotic fused deposition modeling (FDM) programming technology has been developed and is currently being field tested. The NX software also handles post-processing operations, CNC machining, and other essential processes.

Following on from the design stage, the Siemens additive manufacturing package contains all the necessary tools for a full simulation process. The integrated simulation and predictive engineering analytics capabilities contained within the Simcenter portfolio will help users predict design performance and evaluate a given design in order to provide the assurance needed to move forward with designs optimized for additive manufacturing.

With the Simcenter portfolio providing users with the means to test and evaluate their designs prior to production, the Teamcenter software package will provide businesses with a complete digital lifecycle management system, while the Manufacturing Operations Management portfolio can be used to oversee the production process itself, controlling the various additive manufacturing machinery being used to produce 3D printed parts.

“This is just the beginning of a new generation of manufacturing capabilities, and Siemens is focused on delivering software technology to support an optimized end-to-end process with tools such as Convergent Modeling, topology optimization and 3D print preparation that are developed specifically to industrialize additive manufacturing,” said Tony Hemmelgarn, president and CEO of Siemens PLM Software. “Siemens continues to invest in innovation and work with technology partners to develop new solutions to drive advances in additive manufacturing capabilities to make the 3D printing of production parts a reality.”

Siemens will begin rolling out the end-to-end additive manufacturing solution in January 2017.

Posted in 3D Printer Company

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