Siemens has introduced a new Additive Manufacturing (AM) Process Simulation solution for predicting distortion during
3-D printing.

This is fully integrated into Siemens’ end-to-end Additive Manufacturing solution, which assists manufacturers in
“designing and printing useful parts at scale”.

Building on Siemens’ comprehensive Digital Innovation platform and its Simcenter portfolio, the AM Process Simulation
solution uses a ‘digital twin’ to simulate the build process before printing, anticipating distortions in the printing process and automatically generating the corrected geometry to compensate for them.

Siemens says this simulation “is paramount for constructing a ‘first time right’ print, and necessary for achieving the efficiencies required of a fully industrialised additive-manufacturing process.

“When metal parts are 3-D printed, the method used to fuse the layers of the print typically involves heat.

“As the layers build up, the residual heat can cause parts to warp inside the printer, causing various problems, from structural issues within the part itself to print stoppage.

“Issues such as these cause many prints to fail, and make getting a ‘first time right’ print very difficult. Simulation of the printing process can help to alleviate many of these problems.”

Jan Leuridan, senior vice-president for Simulation and Test Solutions at Siemens PLM Software, said: “This solution is the latest addition to our integrated additive-manufacturing platform.

“By using a combination of empirical and computational methods, we can increase the accuracy of the simulation process, feeding the digital twin and helping customers to better predict their real-world print results.

"We have proven this over months of real-world testing with some selected ‘first adopter’ companies.

“Providing corrected geometry and closed-loop feedback can ultimately allow our customers to get better results from their additive-manufacturing processes.”

The AM Process Simulation solution is expected to be available in January 2019, as part of the latest NX software and Simcenter 3D software.

For more information visit the Web site (www.siemens.com/plm/additivemanufacturing).