Ansys and Schrodinger are collaborating to deliver an ICME approach that bridges the gap between materials discovery and product development. Together, Ansys and Schrodinger will accelerate the discovery of new materials by using a multiscale framework, leading to more optimized materials, components, and manufacturing workflows for customers. The new workflows will empower Ansys customers to make critical decisions earlier in the design process and bring products to market sooner.

Presently, materials discovery and product development are separate processes. While digital engineering tools have been widely adopted, standardizing and accelerating materials engineering tools has been delayed by the complexity of generating detailed data at a small scale. As a result, new products are being developed faster than the discovery of new materials that could improve performance.

Computational materials engineering tools that quickly model materials from molecular to macroscopic levels present an opportunity to help customers unlock new levels of innovation and keep pace with industry advancement. The Ansys and Schrodinger collaboration delivers a critical solution to address this challenge. The holistic approach of ICME allows customers to first determine what material characteristics are needed to meet specification standards.

Once identified, users can generate material properties using Schrodinger's molecular modeling platform and use them in an Ansys simulation tool to evaluate product performance based on predicted materials data -- all before prototyping begins. With this collaboration, users can run multiscale simulations to discover new materials, while ensuring products across industries fit performance standards such as weight, size, and efficiency. For example, when evaluating how a material behaves under force, engineers need to know how much it can stretch and how much force it can withstand before permanently changing or breaking.

Schrodinger's platform enables virtual testing of these properties to determine their reactions to stress factors, and the results can be stored and managed in an Ansys materials information database. From there, the materials data can be applied to an Ansys structural simulation workflow to observe the material's behavior in context.