Ansys Learning Hub courses taught by 3M research scientists help engineers develop innovative designs using tapes and adhesives while eliminating material waste.

Pittsburgh, January 3, 2022 – 3M and Ansys have launched a material modelling training program that is helping engineers refine product development processes, accelerate the design stage and eliminate material waste. Engineers are leveraging the program to better generate and analyse simulations, enhance designs and speed to market next-generation products using tape and adhesive as part of their design.

3M is the market leader in developing and supplying adhesives that are widely applied across verticals, including industrial equipment, health care, worker safety and consumer goods. Throughout the adhesive development cycle, 3M scientists and engineers use Ansys solutions to ensure adhesives maintain structural integrity.

Simulation enables engineers to substantially improve sustainability and validate engineering decisions when analysing advanced polymeric materials. Engineers often struggle to obtain accurate engineering data on tapes and adhesives to effectively run simulations — this results in excess material waste and additional prototyping cycles, which hinders sustainability efforts. To answer this challenge, 3M and Ansys collaborated to create an industry material modelling training program that teaches engineers how to model with tape and structural adhesives, optimize adhesive and joint design, decrease waste, and improve production efficiency. In addition, 3M offers verified FE material models for their tape and adhesive products to Ansys users.

"Together with Ansys, 3M is creating a leading-edge learning environment that will educate current and future engineering workforces on how to harness powerful material science and digital engineering solutions to increase productivity, win the race to market and substantially improve environmental sustainability," said Rebecca Miller, Vice President, Structural Adhesives at 3M Industrial Adhesives and Tapes Division. "Through this program, engineers will learn core principles and processes to overcome highly complex engineering challenges."

The first phase of this program includes three industry-level learning courses for adhesive modelling and simulation that are now available in Ansys Learning Hub (ALH). ALH is an Ansys-powered learning & development program that hosts digital engineering solution training and adoption resources across various verticals. These courses combine on-demand and instructor-led training delivered by 3M research scientists and engineers. The program will be available to all ALH customers. Over time, the series will expand to form a guided learning program, spanning several major material modelling engineer competencies and will become an accredited program, embedded into the material industry's qualification process.