Professor Stewart Williams, Cranfield University
Cranfield University experimental AM aero part
An experimental additive manufactured aerospace part in Ti-6-4 titanium
Granta Design today announced details of their latest advances in simulation and materials information management to help Additive Manufacturers improve research, design, testing, and simulation. These developments are the result of Granta’s involvement in two European Framework Seven projects (NANOMICRO and AMAZE) focused on the field of Additive Manufacturing.
Additive Manufacturing is an area in which the use of simulation and increased experimental automation require effective management of large quantities of materials information. Factors such as the need to accurately capture complex processing histories make this a challenge. Granta technology can help to meet this challenge, and has been validated and extended through involvement in these projects.
This announcement follows last week’s final NANOMICRO meeting. In the 4-year project, ten partners have been developing a layer-wise manufacturing approach using highly focalised powder/heat fluxes (with dimensions in the microns range) for metals and cermets (ceramic-metallic composites). Granta’s collaboration with the University of Cambridge enabled simulation work that informed the choice of build parameters in the additive manufacturing process, leading to a shorter production development time and lower part failures. The work tested and validated the use of Granta software as a means to apply materials models and analyze their results.
Granta are also partners in the ongoing project ‘Additive Manufacturing Aiming Towards Zero Waste & Efficient Production of High-Tech Metal Products’ (AMAZE). Led by the European Space Agency, this 30 partner project seeks to rapidly produce large defect-free additively-manufactured metallic components up to 2 metres in size for use in aeronautics, space, nuclear fusion, automotive, and tooling. Granta is helping project partners manage the materials, processing, and test information for analysis and simulation, tailored uniquely for Additive Manufacturing as AMAZE seeks to achieve 50% reduction in power, consumables, raw materials, machining, and cost for finished parts, compared to traditional processing.
Granta’s involvement has fed directly into the on-going development of its leading materials information management software, GRANTA MI- Version 7 of which was launched earlier this month. The AMAZE project has supported the enhancement of features that enable widely-dispersed collaborators to upload and share complex materials data. It is also validating the capabilities of the system in capturing large volumes of highly complex data from multiple partner organisations and linking these together to make the full body of data securely searchable and analysable.
“Involvement in these collaborative projects has reinforced the importance of an advanced materials information management system” explains Dr James Goddin, Collaborative Programme Manager at Granta Design.
He went on to add, “Within a collaborative setting as well as within individual organisations, as project partners contribute to and access the data they need, with appropriate management of IP, we are seeing faster, better results from testing programs. This helps to save time and develop new materials knowledge, it also capitalises on the extensive data that is already being generated in this area, avoiding duplication of effort and establishing a better understanding of some of the more complex variables.”
