Carbon
Carbon software
Software simulation shows non-uniform lattice helps eliminate deformation zone.
Carbon has announced a new version of its next-generation 3D printing software which expands its tool offering to make printing parts easier, optimise the use of supports, and minimise post processing.
The software supports the Silicon Valley-based company’s Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) powered 3D printing platforms. Complex physics and chemistry models are built into the software, so the printer knows, for example, how to print complex fluidics parts versus a midsole for an adidas Futurecraft 4D shoe. The software also boasts internal lattice structure capabilities, can add aesthetic and functional textures to prints, and enables customers to iterate designs rapidly.
Backed by finite element analysis (FEA), a cloud-based computational technique that simulates the forces of DLS, the new software tools bring better analysis, simulation and support capabilities.
Advanced auto support is a cloud-powered feature which enables users to analyse parts, and thus bring a greater chance of the initial print being a success. The feature also helps the user to understand where a part needs more support. Users will now have the opportunity to implement fence supports to parts, which can be used to support edges so they print with more precision. The use of fence supports is also said to reduce the material usages and produce parts with minimal support artefacts. Carbon also says the new software enable fast and secure simulations, thanks to a fast and secure cloud-based computing architecture that brings the time it takes to simulate a parts down from days to hours.
The cloud-connected approach, Carbon says, allows the company to integrate all of its unit operations and offering, and with updates available every six weeks, customers see their hardware regularly optimised.
“Carbon is often recognised for its innovations in hardware and materials science, but our software is what enables all of these pieces to work together seamlessly,” said Roy Goldman, Director of Software at Carbon. “Carbon’s software creates a digital canvas on which every cubic millimeter of a part can be designed, controlled, and optimised before it's printed. We’ve built this software from the ground up, providing our customers with a comprehensive view of the design process that helps ensure a part performs as desired, and enables fast printing and easy post-processing. These new FEA-backed automated support tools are the first of their kind and take our software to a whole new level.”
“Carbon’s core technology is enabling new business models that inherently need new software,” adds Carbon CEO and co-founder, Dr. Joseph DeSimone. “Printing parts on demand, re-purposing a fleet of machines to print a range of parts daily or even hourly, local production for local markets – these are all challenges big manufacturing and ERP companies have talked about for years, but progress has largely been stagnant because the underlying technology hasn’t existed. Carbon is changing the game by solving each of these problems head on, moving beyond prototyping to real-world production at scale.”
