Software Enables Complex Parts, Tooling

Increasingly complex 3D printed parts call for innovative tooling. That begins with the software; in some cases, the same software used to design and optimize 3D printed parts.

That’s true of nTopology’s nTop Platform, which allows engineers to streamline design, analysis and simulation within the same software system, and in a fraction of the time needed with conventional software tools.

“Think about an injection mold,” says nTopology’s Christopher Cho, senior application engineer at nTopology. “In a traditional manufacturing process, the tooling engineer relies on his or her experience to place cooling channels around the mold cavity; if they misjudge, workpiece quality might suffer, or the mold may become damaged. With nTop Platform, we can simulate the thermal effects of the molding process and then generate or augment conformal-cooling channels, thus optimizing heat transfer in regions near those hotspots.

nTop Platform is not limited to tooling applications. The software has been used to design and optimize 3D-printed rocket engines, drones, tennis shoes, brake pedals for Formula 1 racecars, and a host of other products for the likes of Airbus, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force.

See also: Ntopology

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