As a greater number of aerospace manufacturers adopt the practice of 3D printing high performance end parts for direct use in their aircraft, their biggest concern is often quality control. Metal 3D printing in particular can lack the repeatability and quality assurance sought by aerospace companies to make their end parts. As a result, a number of initiatives have sprung up to tackle the issue. 3DSIM and Additive Industries worked together, for instance, to develop a new metal 3D printer with built-in quality assurance technology relying on 3DSIM’s 3D print preview software. 3D Systems, too, released a software suite and scanner meant to inspect and evaluate printed parts against their CAD designs. Today, one of the leading 3D software manufacturers, Dassault Systèmes, has announced that they have partnered with defense tech company Safran Group for their own virtual validation software relying on Dassault’s 3DEXPERIENCE platform.
The duo have teamed up to create an end-to-end software that tackles every step of the 3D printing process that occurs during the translation from digital to physical object, specifically for the production of an engine part: “material science, functional specification, generative design, 3D printing optimization, multi-robotic production and certification.” In other words, 3DEXPERIENCE will be able to optimize a part for 3D printing by accounting for its function, the material out of which it will be made (or could be made?), and generative geometries that might save material and weight costs.
Dominique Florack, Senior Executive Vice President of Research & Development at Dassault Systèmes, says of the new platform, “Dassault Systèmes’ long history of collaboration with Safran is now taking on a new dimension to embrace and integrate new materials and methods of engineering, production and maintenance that will significantly impact the aviation industry. Our 3DEXPERIENCE platform’s strategy covers all aspects of the additive manufacturing process, from material design to conceptual design, generative design to manufacturing, and certification to repair. Together with Safran, we can nurture virtual world processes for a complete approach in this field that will help revolutionize tomorrow’s manufacturing.”
If you’re in France for the International Paris Air Show, you’ll have a chance to learn more from Dassault Systèmes themselves from now until June 21st.
