MEA November 2017

MEAMARKETS / November 2017 29 Stratasys and e-Xstream Engineering Cooperate to Offer Customers Predictive Simulation Tools for Improved Process, Material and Part Performance g tools are needed to predict and mitigate part warpage as well as realize the impact of design decisions on the manufacturing process before the part is produced. • Material engineering to create a framework and methodology for characterization by understanding the key parameters driving the material’s behaviour. This framework will support the accelerated development and optimization of future material system solutions. • Part performance predictions that are applied daily to complete the engineering workflow for traditional manufacturing processes, providing the product designer with an accurate early design. The extension of Digimat’s structural analysis solution for FDM will predict part performance (stiffness, strength, etc.) as a function of the material and the printing process parameters, such as printing direction or toolpath. “For engineers to unlock the design freedom that additive manufacturing offers, they need tools for accurate and effective analysis. We are happy to be collaborating with simulation leaders, such as e-Xstream, whose customized tools are a key contributor to enabling additive manufacturing to become a high-performance production technology,” continued Sevcik. Further to the collaboration, the next release of e-Xstream’s material modelling platform, Digimat, will deliver the first material models of ULTEM™ 9085 resin, a strong, lightweight thermoplastic meeting aerospace requirement, with a complete process package for the Stratasys Fortus 900mc Production 3D Printer. Customers are provided the numerical tools necessary to perform both process simulation and structural analysis by feeding critical process information from Stratasys’ pre-processing software, Insight, to Digimat’s AM module*. “We are very excited about this collaboration, which we believe will enable Stratasys customers to benefit from e-Xstream’s polymer multi-scale modelling expertise to improve the way they design for manufacturing,” said Roger Assaker, CEO of e-Xstream engineering, Chief Material Strategist of MSC Software. “The ability to foresee the influence of designs on part printing and performance should enable users to save time and reduce costs by improving overall accuracy, reliability and workflow efficiencies,” he concluded. *Digimat 2018.0 will be available for download at the end of November 2017.