Additive manufacturing simulation software can also be used for mass production.

ANSYS announced that it has acquired 3DSIM, a developer of additive manufacturing (AM) simulation technology, enabling it to provide customers with the world's only complete additive manufacturing simulation workflow.

3DSIM is a company that develops high-performance simulation software for metal additive manufacturing. 3DSIM supports manufacturers, designers, and engineers in achieving optimal goals through simulation without the need for prototype testing. Key customers include aerospace and automotive OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturing), metal 3D printer manufacturers, universities, and major research institutes.

Additive manufacturing, a technology garnering attention in the 3D printing field, was primarily used for prototyping but is now being directly applied to mass production. While products made from various materials are being produced using additive manufacturing technology, metals are particularly difficult to handle. The lasers used in metal additive manufacturing optimize metal density but can simultaneously melt the metal, potentially causing errors. Furthermore, rapid heating and cooling induce stress, which increases the likelihood of product deformation.

Simulation testing is necessary to effectively reduce such trial and error. The newly integrated simulation solution from Ansys and 3DSIM can minimize these risks by finding the most perfect design values through various solutions optimized for metal additive manufacturing before mass production of products using metal additive manufacturing.

Through this acquisition, 3DSIM products available to Ansys customers include exaSIM and FLEX. exaSIM perfectly predicts and resolves factors that can cause errors, such as residual stress and distortion, during part design. Therefore, optimal parts can be manufactured without tolerances or production errors, even without prototype testing.

Another product, FLEX, enables users to adjust process parameters such as optimal laser power, speed, and scan strategies for specific additive manufacturing machine and material combinations. This helps achieve the highest level of part integrity and enables perfect prediction of microstructure, allowing users to control anisotropic mechanical properties such as material strength and elastic modulus.

“Additive manufacturing technology is changing the way companies produce products, and 3DSIM has the innovative solutions needed for additive manufacturing,” said Shane Emswiler, Vice President at Ansys. “By integrating 3DSIM’s exaSIM and FLEX into our Workbench platform, our customers can now utilize a unique additive manufacturing simulation workflow.” "This will shorten our clients' product launch times and reduce manufacturing costs across the industry," he said.

In addition, 3DSIM CEO Brent Stucker said, “We are very pleased to become part of the Ansys family, which boasts a history of 50 years in the field of simulation software,” adding, “The combination of our advanced additive manufacturing technology and Ansys engineering simulation solutions will be of great benefit not only to our customers but to the entire industry.”