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• Create the material in the Materials editor and assign it to the Design Space

• Assuming the part should be printed with a Manufacturing Method like FFF, a Transversely Isotropic material is applied. The z-axis of the PCS is always the build direction ( * ) and differs from the two in-plane directions y and x. The values for the materials have to be entered accordingly. For the input the main axis (1-2-3) are used which are equal to (z-y-x).

• The specific values needed are the Young's Modulus in build direction (E1) (1700 MPa) and in in-plane direction (E2) (1900 MPa), the Shear Modulus (G12) (730 MPa) and the Poisson ratio (0.3) for xy (NU23) and (0.39) for yz (NU12). The density is set to 0.9e-6 kg/mm³.

• As the last input the material limits should be entered. Which of these are required depends on the optimisation intention and the chosen Failure Criterion. In this case we want to take advantage of the directional dependent material limits as well as different limits for tension and compression (directional dependent Tsai-Wu).

  • These values are optional, if a different Failure Criterion is selected, less material input is required

* The Build Direction will be adjusted later (Step 6)

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One direct load is created (Force - Moment 1) on the shown surface with the given value in the table.

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One Constraint on the mounting holes inner surface is created:

Therefore, the Loads & Boundary Condition Tool is needed.

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Interfaces have to be created for every functional surface - so every surface where a boundary condition is applied to. With this Tool an offset to the inside with the input “Non-Design Space Thickness” and an offset to the outside with the input “Machining Allowance” is created. The Offset Distance is expanding the Interface to the set value to create material on front faces.

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The optimisation parameters are selected in the Studies Area as well.

Now the Build Direction will be adjusted. Therefore the Build Direction Tool can be activated with the coordinate system symbol and any surface can be selected. To rotate the Build Direction either the visualized coordinate system can directly be manipulated to align the Build Direction with the x-Axis of the model or the Euler Angles can be entered directly (90,00 °; 90,00 °; 270,00 °).

For each scenario the Build Direction can be easily changed, then the Build Direction for the Design Rules as well the material properties are rotated accordingly. This way multiple Build Directions can be checked in one project. Afterwards the optimisation results can be compared in the Post Processing and the best build orientation can be picked

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You can check the status of the optimisation in the GD Status and get more information on Warning and Error messages. This can be done directly in the Post-Processing as well as in the Studies tab for an optimisation that has already been executed.

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All result iterations are displayed as soon as they are available. Furthermore, you are able to stop the optimisation in this selection area. However, a Restart is not directly possible.

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The whole MSC Apex Generative Design projects with all results for the different anisotropic behaviour settings can be downloaded here:

You might also be interested in these tutorials:

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