nTop 4.3 is here! This release features our new Export Implicit Body (Beta) block that lets you export implicit bodies as *.implicit files, which can be imported directly into an EOS printer with our new beta nTop Plugin for EOSPRINT. We are also releasing our Anisotropic Material block and blocks to define its properties: Anisotropic Stiffness Tensor, Anisotropic Thermal Property, and Anisotropic Thermal Expansion Property. Please scroll down to learn more about these blocks and our new capabilities. As with every release, nTop's dedicated support team is ready to answer your questions. Please visit support.ntop.com to gain access to helpful tutorials and support articles.
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Export Implicit Body (Beta)
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nTop Plugin for EOSPRINT (Beta)
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Anisotropic Material
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Anisotropic Stiffness Tensor
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Anisotropic Thermal Property
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Anisotropic Thermal Expansion Property
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Usage Improvements
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Block Updates
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Bug Fixes
Export Implicit Body (Beta)
- We are excited to announce that the Export Implicit Body block is now available in beta. With this block, you can conveniently export an Implicit Body as an nTop Implicit File (*.implicit), which is our proprietary file format designed specifically for seamless integration with our products, including the nTop Core library and nTop Plugin for EOSPRINT.
- Generating an nTop Implicit File is not only simple but also remarkably fast. In fact, the process typically takes less than a second, allowing you to swiftly proceed with your workflow.
- Furthermore, we are pleased to inform you that the Import Implicit Body block is currently available as a private beta. However, we have plans to promote it to the beta stage later this year. Stay tuned for this exciting development, as it will provide you with even more flexibility and convenience when working with nTop products.
- Block Name: Export Implicit Body
- Location: Beta > Manufacturing
- Description: Export an Implicit Body to a file
- Path: The output file path
- Body: Implicit Body to export
nTop Plugin for EOSPRINT (Beta)
- We are excited to announce that the nTop Plugin for EOSPRINT is now available in beta for all nTop customers using EOSPRINT 2.14 or later.
- With our cutting-edge Implicit Interop technology, the nTop Plugin enables you to seamlessly import nTop Implicit Files directly into EOSPRINT for efficient slicing and manufacturing.
- Generating an nTop Implicit File is simple—just utilize the Export Implicit Body (Beta) block in nTop.
- To gain access to the plugin, kindly reach out to our Support team, and you will find it conveniently available in the Add-ons tab of your customer dashboard. The installation instructions can be found in this support article.
- By utilizing the nTop Plugin for EOSPRINT, you can eliminate the challenges associated with data exchange bottlenecks caused by meshing. Traditional mesh files are often large, time-consuming to generate, and can compromise the accuracy of the final part. Moreover, meshing becomes impractical or impossible for complex geometries. However, by transferring your designs using an nTop Implicit File and leveraging the nTop Plugin for EOSPRINT, you can overcome these obstacles effectively.
Anisotropic Material
- The Anisotropic Material block enables you to define an Anisotropic material by providing an Anisotropic material list of elastic and thermal properties and the density of the material.
- This block is used to apply anisotropic material properties to FE Models in a Static, Modal, Buckling or Thermal analysis to determine the model’s performance. The properties are typically derived from data sheets, experimental data or a Homogenization analysis performed in nTop.
- Block Name: Anisotropic Material
- Location: Simulation > Material Attributes
- Description: Defines an Anisotropic Material by providing a list of Anisotropic Material Properties and the material density. The properties of an Anisotropic Material can vary in any direction.
- Properties: The list of anisotropic material properties that define the material.
- Density: The material density.
- Output: Anisotropic Material
Anisotropic Stiffness Tensor
- The Anisotropic Stiffness Tensor block enables you to define the linear elastic properties of an anisotropic material.
- This block is added to the Anisotropic Material Property List to apply elastic properties to an FE model used in a Static, Modal or Buckling analysis.
- Block Name: Anisotropic Stiffness Tensor
- Location: Simulation > Material Attributes
- Description: Defines an Anisotropic Linear Elastic Property by specifying a positive definite, second order, symmetric stiffness tensor in Voigt notation for the constitutive relationship:
- Providing scalar fields as inputs will result in spatially varying material properties.
- Cij: Material Stiffness Component i,j (Note: The block has a total of 21 material stiffness component inputs as indicated in the following screenshot)
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- Output: Anisotropic Linear Elastic Property
Anisotropic Thermal Property
- The Anisotropic Thermal Property block lets you define an anisotropic material's thermal properties, such as conductivity and specific heat.
- This block is added to the Anisotropic Material Property List to apply thermal properties to an FE model used in a Thermal analysis.
- Block Name: Anisotropic Thermal Property
- Location: Simulation > Material Attributes
- Description: Defines an Anisotropic Thermal Property by specifying specific heat capacity and a second order thermal conductivity tensor, Kij, for the constitutive relationship between heat flux and the temperature gradient, qi=-Kij* (dT/dxj). Providing scalar fields as inputs will result in a spatially varying material property.
- K11: Thermal conductivity component 1,1.
- K12: Thermal conductivity component 1,2.
- K13: Thermal conductivity component 1,3.
- K22: Thermal conductivity component 2,2.
- K23: Thermal conductivity component 2,3.
- K33: Thermal conductivity component 3,3.
- Specific Heat: Specific heat capacity.
- Output: Anisotropic Thermal Property
Anisotropic Thermal Expansion Property
- The Anisotropic Thermal Expansion Property block lets you define an anisotropic material's thermal expansion properties.
- This block is added to the Anisotropic Material Property List to apply thermal expansion properties to an FE model used in a Static analysis to study temperature change induced strains.
- Block Name: Anisotropic Thermal Expansion Property
- Location: Simulation > Material Attributes
- Description: Defines an Anisotropic Thermal Expansion Property by specifying a matrix of thermal expansion coefficients in Voight notation,
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- where T is the current temperature, and T_o is the baseline reference temperature. Providing scalar fields as inputs will result in spatially varying material properties.
- Alpha1: Thermal expansion coefficient, Alpha 1
- Alpha2: Thermal expansion coefficient, Alpha 2
- Alpha3: Thermal expansion coefficient, Alpha 3
- Alpha4: Thermal expansion coefficient, Alpha 4
- Alpha5: Thermal expansion coefficient, Alpha 5
- Alpha6: Thermal expansion coefficient, Alpha 6
- Output: Anisotropic Thermal Expansion Property
Usage Improvements
- The “Spatial3D” type has been renamed to “Transformable” to improve clarity.
Block Updates
- We moved the default overload of the Cylindrical Restraint block that takes an FE Boundary input to production version 1.0.0. With this version update, we improved the automatic axis detection to be robust for both the FE Boundary by Body and the FE Boundary by Flood Fill boundary input selection methods.The block is located in the Simulation ribbon under the Boundary Conditions section.
Bug Fixes
- We fixed an issue with the Rectangular Cell Map block that caused nTop to hang at the "Refining Bounding Box" step when using a Volume input with NaNs.
- We fixed an issue with the Polygon from Points block that allowed non-coplanar points as input values and created an unusable result. If input points are not coplanar, the block will throw an error.
- We fixed an issue with un-built blocks having all their properties showing the building progress wheel.
- We fixed an issue with the information panel during Precise Render that caused the panel to stay open and active.
- We fixed an issue that did not update the property panel when switching to an element in a Group with a different type.