Additive Manufacturing Simulation
ANSYS offers a complete simulation workflow for additive manufacturing (AM) that allows you to transition your R&D efforts for metal AM into a successful manufacturing operation.
Additive manufacturing (3D printing) is a technology that produces three-dimensional parts layer by layer from a variety of materials. It has been rapidly gaining popularity as a true manufacturing process in recent years. In the AM process, a digital data file is transmitted to a production machine, which ultimately translates an engineering design into a 3D-printed part. Initially, AM was utilized as a rapid prototyping method — an accelerated method to create (mostly plastic) parts before manufacturing by well-accepted methodologies, such as injection molding, casting, forming, joining, etc.
Metal-based AM processes were developed in the 1990s. Soon after, several companies launched laser sintering systems that could 3D print metal parts directly, thus providing an alternative to direct, multi-stage manufacturing processes. Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an AM technique that uses a laser as the energy source to melt powder (metal or polymer). The laser targets points in space defined by a 3D model, and binds the powder material together to create a solid structure.
