Industry Summary Articles

e-Xstream engineering, an MSC Software Company, and co-winners Solvay Engineering Plastics and Solvay Specialty Polymers,  have been recognized with a JEC Innovation Award for launching Digimat Additive Manufacturing. Awarded in the software category, the launch was recognized for its innovation and market potential.

The JEC Innovation program was created in 1998 to help identify, promote, and reward the most innovative composite solutions worldwide. The selection criteria for the JEC Innovation Awards were technical excellence, exemplarity of the chain of partners, market potential, and originality. The ultimate goal is to recognize the efforts being made towards the advancement of the composite industry.

"We're honored to be recognized as an industry innovator by JEC, and look forward to continuing our modeling leadership with Digimat Additive Manufacturing to help address the global industry's need to transition from prototyping to actual manufacturing" said Roger Assaker, Chief Executive Officer of e-Xstream. "With solutions for materials development, process simulation, and printed part performance, Digimat Additive Manufacturing is a completely innovative solution that's fully dedicated to reinforced plastics and composites, allowing its users to "print it right the first time."

Because of the manufacturing specificity, new high performance plastics and composites need to be engineered specifically for the Additive Manufacturing industry. Today the development time for one such grade is very long, because the as-printed material properties are closely related to the process conditions and the process-induced microstructure, such as printing direction, and porosities distribution. By applying multi-scale material modeling techniques to the additive manufacturing of polymers (unfilled and reinforced), Digimat's virtual material compounding and characterization is a key enabler for customers developing new materials. They are now able to significantly reduce their physical tests, understand the key parameters driving the material's behavior and easily create new material systems, such as lightweight lattices, and open the door to even more innovative designs.

For printer manufacturers and end-users, the part fidelity is the top challenge to overcome. With simulation tools that enable optimizing the process and minimizing the part deformation, the technology reliability and the integration of its use into the industry are at the engineer's fingertips. Virtual engineering is the solution to minimize printing trials and errors because it enables the user to explore the process sensitivity to manufacturing parameters.

"Being part of the launch of Digimat Additive Manufacturing aligns with our strategy to play a leading role in enlarging the portfolio of available high performance materials." said Brian Alexander, Head of Additive Manufacturing for Solvay's Specialty Polymers Global Business Unit. "By working closely with e-Xstream and leveraging its modeling platform, the Digimat solution combined with Sinterline® opens new technological horizons and fully takes advantage of the potential for light-weighting and complex design." said Dominique Giannotta, Sinterline® Program Leader for Solvay's Engineering Plastics Business Unit.

To view the original press release, please click here.

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