Digimat for Additive Manufacturing

In the fields of aerospace in particular, the 3D printing of plastics and composites is a promising source of gains. More generally, the industry is seeking affordable composites systems combining virtual engineering, multi-material solutions and automated manufacturing – obviously AM is part of the equation.

Digimat for Additive Manufacturing is a holistic simulation approach for additive manufacturing of plastics and composites, providing the unique combination of material engineering, process simulation and structural engineering to bring additive manufacturing efficiency and performance to the next level required for industry. Today, such an approach does not exist on the market.

• MATERIAL: Digimat helps providers of material solutions and end material users to develop, exchange and use a larger portfolio of plastics and composites materials specifically for Additive Manufacturing
  • Metric: virtually characterize the effect of adding 10% wt short carbon fibers in an ABS filament on stiffness (+160%) and yield stress (+100%) for improved material performance
• PROCESS: Digimat simulates the printing process and helps printer manufacturers and end-users to identify manufacturing issues and optimize printing setup parameters for productivity and final part performance, for instance by minimizing part warpage and residual stresses as a function of the material and process parameters.
  • Metric: print right the first time and save on material (50-100$/kg) and machine cost (100-500k$/machine)
• PART: Digimat enables the prediction of the as-manufactured part performance, therefore allowing precise understanding of final part mechanical properties and helping with optimization of performance for lightweighting.
  • Metric: improve component strength by 50% by identifying best printing orientation with simulation

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