Unlock the true power of Additive Manufacturing

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has changed dramatically over the last decade. Commonly used for prototyping, extended to product research and development, massively adopted for tooling, AM is now entering industrialization phase with many “AM by-design parts” emerging on the market.   

Modern AM technologies accelerates the innovation process thanks to new machines, materials and software’s: new ways to design, new ways to produce, new ways to control quality and certify. Because it opens up new design frontiers, eliminates the need for molds, and reduces the amount of raw material and energy required in production by up to 90 percent, AM is also an answer to global sustainability challenge. The resulting lighter weight parts offer environmental and bottom line friendly benefits such as reduced production waste and lower aircraft fuel requirements. Delivering these benefits at scale remains a key challenge. Is your aerospace company really embracing additive manufacturing and getting ahead of the competition?
 

Thanks to multiple exclusive and certified applications, particularly in the “new space”, Additive Manufacturing proves product benefits, strategic possibilities and flexibility gains for the entire value chain. Manufacturing leaders in Aerospace & Defense seek then to extend additive manufacturing adoption across their enterprise, Organization, IT and industrialization teams are facing a major gap: AM delivered by small-dedicated teams, away from standard process, is not ready to scale. Digital continuity is broken; up to seven best of breed software can be used in a raw. Therefore, costs remains high: many  iterations, high scrap rates, long certification process, low volumes. Data analytics, machine learning and AI might be a solution but are hard to deploy in such a context. Actually, managers are suspicious, program leader’s stay quite reluctant, engineering departments are maintaining a status quo, volumes remains quite low. It’s hard to engage sub-contractors, suffering of a lack of visibility in front of massive investments. Finally, purchasers challenge traditional manufacturing providers, using AM as a scarecrow.

Question is not any more “why AM” but “how to deploy AM”

Dassault Systèmes has set a strategy and embraced this challenge: end-to-end digitally connected, science based. By leveraging the 3DEXPERIENCE® platform for AM, engineers can rapidly explore multiple optimized concept shapes that are optimized based on not only the part specifications but also constraints specific to the additive manufacturing process. Engineers also consider multi-material requirements (polymers, metals, and engineered materials) and specialized 3D printers to produce these optimized parts. And innovative aerospace companies ‘connect the dots’ by advancing the ability of teams across their enterprise to collaborate throughout the product development process in order to reap the full value that additive manufacturing has to offer.

Working in the same digital platform, manufacturers get roles for building. They have the ability to prepare and compute AM processes by validating the operation before printing. It provides an intuitive user experience by utilizing a simplified user interface that defines the workflow tailored to the type of printer selected thanks to partnership with machine builder’s leaders.

How do companies increase the power of additive manufacturing from rapid prototyping to full-scale production?  Foundational blocks of technology, software and processes now support the use of additive manufacturing, not only for prototyping, but for tooling and production. Aerospace companies can produce a large variety of low volume and high mix articles using automated additive and subtractive processes. One of the key challenges in additive manufacturing is the ability to achieve standardization in terms of part quality. When manufacturers experience a large range of variability between builds, certification becomes a costly task since it’s heavily reliant on physical testing.

Simulating the additive manufacturing process is a key component for companies digitally transforming 3D printing to move to production. Indeed, accurate and scalable simulation allows the user to virtually explore all the machine parameters specified for a build, in order to understand what has the greatest impact on the part quality metrics of interest. 

The additive manufacturing simulation solutions from Dassault Systèmes have proven accuracy. Together with industrial partners, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform has successfully predicted the mechanical properties of build parts utilizing unique metallurgical phase transformation capabilities.   

Discover how Joby Aviation, a California-based pioneer in developing Electric Virtual Take-off and Landing vehicles (eVTOL), or air taxis, has deployed 3DExperience platform to boost its AM disruptive activities.

Sustainability has become a core value in the manufacturing industry. The nature of additive manufacturing (printing on-demand parts on site) reduces the need for tooling and transportation. Reduced tooling means less material overall is required for production. Additionally, the layer-by-layer manner of fabrication uses significantly less material than traditional subtractive methods where components are formed by removing material from large blocks. Finally, additive manufacturing can be set up to produce anywhere. This simplifies the supplier network, lowers costs and reduces the environmental impact by lowering transportation emissions.

To support additive manufacturing on a large scale, Dassault Systèmes created 3DEXPERIENCE® Marketplace to provide a seamless way to get parts made and collaborate with leading digital manufacturers worldwide. Now, companies can identify the best partner based on a project and part specifications. This includes maintaining full traceability for part development and production, essential for certification. Companies can streamline the collaboration process by leveraging collaboration, geometric compliance, and industrial standards. With an enterprise mode option, large group and clusters can set their private marketplace, to leverage a dedicated eco-system and execute their “make or buy” strategy.