Altair, a global technology company providing solutions in product development, high-performance computing and data analytics, announced it has launched its new manufacturing simulation solution for additive manufacturing, Inspire Print3D.

Inspire Print3D provides a fast and accurate toolset to design and simulate the manufacturing process for selective laser melting (SLM) parts. The easy-to-use, advanced thermo-mechanical solution enables design engineers to develop parts ready for additive manufacturing. Designers can optimally generate designs that meet performance requirements as well as evaluate and easily modify critical process variables in one single immersive environment. Reducing expensive trial and error by simulating part build, cooling, cutting and springback, Inspire Print3D delivers designs having the fewest support structures, optimally oriented on any 3D printer.

“Inspire Print3D is the latest of our manufacturing tools, and we are very excited to present it to the design engineering and additive manufacturing communities,” said James Dagg, Altair chief technology officer, design and simulation solutions. “With Inspire Print3D, companies can now reduce development and manufacturing costs by minimizing part supports and reducing material usage, print times, and post-processing.”

Engineers working with Inspire Print3D will be able to quickly understand and correct potential defects such as part deformation, delamination, and overheating before printing. Inspire Print3D will also allow engineers to create best performing designs for the SLM process by applying advanced thermo-mechanical simulation to reduce post-processing and avoid expensive trial-and-error.

Key features of Inspire Print3D include:

• Part and Support Design – Generate support structures as part of the design process; interactively create and edit supports within the same environment as the designed part.
• Easy-to-Learn Environment – The intuitive, process-driven user experience enables users to gain deep manufacturing insights quickly, driving faster and better design decisions.
• Printing Analysis – Run the embedded thermo-mechanical solver to accurately simulate the entire printing process from building and cooling to cutting and springback.
• Defect Identification – Easily detect and plot defects including large deformation, excessive heating and delamination to aid design or process modification.
• Ready for Printing – Assess parts, layer-by-layer, to validate geometry even before any 3D printing analysis is performed, then export a file containing the prepped part and supports.

“M&H has been using Altair Inspire for additive manufacturing generative designs for several years and every year we strive to improve our designs,” said Dr. Jukka Pakkanen, additive manufacturing specialist at M&H CNC-TECHNIK GMBH. “The introduction of Inspire Print3D adds new possibilities and greatly enhances the capabilities for us to evaluate our designs and customer parts prior to manufacturing in order to react accordingly to any arising problems upfront. Failed prints are expensive because you may lose money in all areas like raw material, machine time, labor, and more. Being able to make unique parts correctly the first time is a competitive advantage promised with Inspire Print3D.”