Siemens Digital Industries Software, Plano, Texas, announces that it has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop metal additive manufacturing designs for aerospace structures. The applications will leverage Siemens’ end-to-end software solution for industrial additive manufacturing, which combines generative engineering, topology optimization, predictive analytics, process simulation, build preparation, and production execution.
The two-year project, named Design4AM, is based on a strong collaboration between Siemens and the Sonaca Group, a Belgian company that specializes in aerospace structures. The project is to receive financial support from ESA and the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (Belspo).
Design4AM will leverage the Siemens Digital Innovation Platform with the support of Sonaca’s experience in space applications, manufacturing features, material and process testing, and numerical methods for the validation of the chain. Siemens’ NX software and Simcenter software enable engineers to explore a wide range of design concepts in an automated closed-loop process that takes into consideration engineering performance, manufacturing process, and operation cost requirements.
These tools can account for manufacturing constraints such as thermo-mechanical part distortion, the structural part orientation in the building chamber, and the design of supporting structures. The integrated software environment can shorten the part conceptual design and optimization process, helping enable higher performance structures to be manufactured.
“The Siemens and Sonaca partnership combines the power of a leading additive manufacturing software solution with the expertise from a leading aerospace manufacturer,” said Pedro Romero Fernandez, Sonaca General Manager Space BU. “With our deep aerospace knowledge and Siemens’ software technologies, engineers will be able to explore hundreds of design options in a fraction of the normal time. Then we will virtually test them against a variety of physical conditions to arrive at the best design to 3D print correctly the first time.”
https://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/global/en/our-story/newsroom/
