The global 3-D printing software and services provider Materialise (
www.materialise.com) is bolstering the additive-manufacturing (AM) capabilities of the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), which is based at Ansty Park, Coventry, and is home to the National Centre for Additive Manufacturing.
Materialise is providing its Magics 3D Print Suite software, after becoming one of the MTC’s newest members.
Ross Trepleton, group technology manager for component technology at the MTC, said: “The MTC uses Materialise software to produce build files efficiently and accurately for ‘right first time’ AM component manufacture.
“The software suite provides high control of the 3-D printing process, from enhancing the design to streamlining production and analysing machine behaviour. This enhances our customers’ understanding of the entire AM process chain.”
With the move in the AM industry towards production, the importance of quality, repeatability and process control is increasingly to the fore.
The MTC can now use the Control Platform and Inspector software tools, which allow the user to analyse data coming from all stages of the production process in order to improve and guarantee part quality.
Users can experiment with print styles and other research parameters, as well as predict and detect errors with less effort.
Furthermore, for the validation of AM production set-ups that can efficiently handle high volumes of data while ensuring traceability, Materialise Streamics gives the MTC a central AM automation and control system.
Philip Hudson, managing director of Materialise UK, said: “We are pleased to share our knowledge and software solutions with a leading institution such as the MTC, and with the industrial Additive Manufacturing industry in the UK. Working with the MTC, together we can push industrial AM forward.”