Printing a metal part is not as straightforward as 3D-printer companies would have you believe. The metal part can have voids, incomplete solidification of powder, as well as stresses and distortion from uneven cooling.
Simulation results from ANSYS Additive Print showing displacement for a heat exchanger part. (Image courtesy of ANSYS and Additive Industries.)
It’s a goal to print parts used in industrial environments or in production. In amongst the assembled 3D-printer vendors at AMUG was ANSYS, known by most for its simulation software.
There’s a lot simulation can do to help with the problems users run into when 3D-printing metal parts, explained Dr. Brent Stucker, who runs the Additive Manufacturing group at ANSYS.
Most users resort to trial-and-error techniques to get the final part. It is an expensive and time-consuming process. 3D printers are anything but rapid. As ANSYS makes multi-physics simulation software that can model thermal effects, phase change, flow and stresses, it was only a matter of time before the company introduced products specifically for 3D printing.
To do so, ANSYS acquired Stucker’s 3D printing startup, 3DSIM, which was established with years of research at the University of Louisville, various research grants and projects through the America Makes 3D-printing institute. Now, the technology is under the ANSYS umbrella as three applications: ANSYS Additive Suite, ANSYS Additive Print Simulation and ANSYS Additive Science, meant to handle every step of the 3D-printing workflow, from design to production.
The ANSYS Additive Suite includes topology optimization, STL file, and geometry manipulation and structural and thermal design validation. The Additive Suite is available as an add-on with an ANSYS Mechanical Enterprise license. Parts can be light-weighted using topology optimization and analyzed for performance under thermal and structural loading before the part is cleaned for the printing process.
ANSYS Additive Print Simulation can help prep for any issues that can occur during the printing process, which may be key to preventing build failure that can lead to the waste of expensive material and even damage to machine components. This includes predicting distortion and residual stress in metal parts and potential blade crash locations, generating distortion-compensated STL files, anticipating thermal strain and its effects on a part, and automatically creating support structures for parts.
ANSYS Additive Science is meant to work within ANSYS Workbench or on its own. Designed in part as a research and development tool, the software can be used to fine-tune machine and material parameters and develop new materials. It does so by analyzing porosity and melt pools; predicting sensor measurements, thermal history and microstructure; and by running parametric studies and tracking phase transformation.
As it stands, ANSYS is now one of the few companies that has software for simulating 3D printing processes, though the field is starting to become populated by companies like MSC Software. However, through the expertise and IP brought on by 3DSIM, tools from other companies will have a lot to compete with.
To learn more, visit ANSYS’ additive product page.