experience meets simulation

8/17/2019 Experience meets simulation

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Global competition, smart R&D invest-

ments to create innovative products with

the best possible quality at competitive

prices, these are the challenges today’s

forming industry is facing.

It is helpful to get a detailed insight into devel-

opment and manufacturing processes, to as-sure that innovative ideas will find their way into

production - without the risk of failure within

the development process.

Today, companies in the forming industry

worldwide rely on process simulation, which

frontloads the manufacturing process into the

virtual world even before production has star t-

ed. This approach gives companies control

over manufacturing processes as well as over

„Essential ly we have been able to impro-

ve our overall process regarding process stabili ty with simulation. It helped us to

improve quali ty, productivity, and to save

material. To us, forming simulation means

progress, innovation, and cost savings”.

Gerald Oppelt,Manager Production Technology, Uponor

“The importance of simulation within the

forming industry is constantly increasing

and helps to be one step ahead of your

competition, because companies within

our industry, that use simulation, can

save energy and material, and are able to

produce lighter components.”

Dr. Theodor L. Tutmann, Managing Director, German Forging

Association (IMU)

“The cooperation with our technology

partner Simufact has evolved over many years, especial ly in the area of ring rol-

ling. Today, by combining the experience

of our engineers with simulation techno-

logy, we are in the position to receive pro-

cess simulation results that are between

90 and 98 percent close to reality.”

Jürgen Schüler, Leader Technical Planning, Neumayer Tekfor

„By using simulation software, my abilties

as a forging die designer have enhanced

with many folds. It helps me to visual-

ize the concept of the physics of metal

flow in the cavities of different stages of

impressions. This is a very powerful and

recommended tool for a designer. And in

the end it saves company money.

Senior Manufacturing Engineer Cornell Forge Co, Chicago U.S.A

costs related to process layout and production

and the possibility to react flexible to special

requirements.

The product and service offerings of Simufact

have been developed to meet the requests of

the forming industry and provide a solution.

Simufact supports its customers globally by

being a solution provider of production tech-

nology and process simulation for the opti-

mization and design of production process.

Simufact develops and distributes Simufact.

forming, an industry sector solution, easy to

implement, user friendly, and based on lead-

ing standard technologies.


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Benefits provided by process simulations:

What if the first physical test could already

provide the approval for production?

How can you assure, that production uses

the most cost-efficient process?

How can you guarantee, that the know-how

of forming processes gathered by your ex-

perienced employees stays within your or-

ganization if someone leaves?

How do you reduce cycle times for new part

development from several to one week?

These are some of the questions compa-

nies in the forming industry are confronting

in their daily work. To sustain in this market

successfully, it is unavoidable to use suit-

able instruments, which help companies to

reduce manufacturing risks, leave freedom

for new and innovative ideas, and give de-

tailed insights into manufacturing processes.

It is crucial to define the best possible manu-

facturing process without repetitive physical

tests. This is where the product and service

offerings of Simufact are fitting in.

The global competitive pressure companies in the forming industry are

facing is immense. Customers’ requirements are increasing constantly

and the cost pressure force companies to change and optimize their

design and manufacturing processes. Development errors have to be

avoided and processes have to be optimized as early as possible within

the development phases. The goal of an optimized development process

should be that a tool or part is only physically tested to validate the data

coming from simulation.

Companies in the bulk metal forming indus-

try, which use process simulation, confirm

that they could reduce physical testing by

50%, immediately after the implementation

of the new methods. They also confirm that

cycle times for new part developments can

be reduced from 3 weeks to 1 week – a

huge cost saving potential. With the grow-

ing experience of the users, these numbers

can be improved even further. Traditionally

companies could answer questions about

forming faults, tool forces or the related tool

life quantity only after the first (second or

third…) physical test. Today, thanks to vir-

tual testing, mistakes can be found earlier,

avoided and therefore costs can be saved.

Challenges in Forming Technology

Process stability through:

… better knowledge about details of the

forming process

… less faults in forming

… evaluation of more variants and risk

free testing of new ideas

Method optimization through:

… reduction of forming operations

… less machining

… optimized material usage

Reduced costs in tool and process

development through:

… fewer testing of tools

… less production downtimes for trial

runs

… shorter development times

Cost reduction in serial production

through:

… increased tool life

… optimized utilization of machinecapacity

… increased production line availability

… less material waste

Frontloading of Physical Testing intothe Computer:PROCESS RELIABILITY - METHOD OPTIMIZATION - COST REDUCTION


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The Simufact Product Line

Besides process simulation in itself, it is also

crucial, to use CAE tools which are comple-

mentary and support the entire development

process - from first variant testing up to ar-

Simufact.forming basic - the base configuration for most of your needs

The simulation environment Simufact.forming basic covers all standard forging and cold bulk

metal forming processes, to determine tool stresses and material flow. The system offers the

entire range of functionality to represent forging and multistage cold forming processes ef-

ficiently and easily - naturally 2D and 3D in a common environment. A powerful meshing tool

and automated post processing completes the simulation environment.

Simufact.forming rolling - for rotating tools

Simufact.forming rolling enables an easy creation of any kind of models with rotating tools.

The user can define and visualize any rolling axis orientation. The number of rolls is unlimited

and it is possible to include any type of kinematic of the rolling process, including drag rolls

and powered rolls. It also contains an adapted meshing technology for incremental forming.

Simufact.forming rolling is based on Simufact.forming basic and can be used, amongst

other, for flat- and profile-rolling, ring- and cross-rolling, spin- and flow forming, as well as

for reducer rolling.

Simufact.forming die analysis - tool life evaluation & optimization

For a detailed insight into the tools, the supplementary module Simufact.forming die analysis

is the module of choice. Tool preloads can be simulated under realistic internal pressure, thetool behavior can be investigated under realistic manufacturing constraints in coupled or un-

coupled analysis. Therefore it is possible to analyze tool failure and to evaluate different tool

concepts.

Simufact.forming kinematics - representation of arbitrary machine motion sequences

The supplementary module Simufact.forming kinematics allows the automated modeling

of complex machine motion sequences such as the complete reduction plan with several

re-heating steps, as typical in open die forging. This module is usually customized to the

customer’s needs. If needed, machine controller data can be directly fed in as a simulation

parameter.

Simufact.material - insights into material structure

Simufact.material is a modular tool in itself and consists of: Basic, Microstructure, and Trans-

formation. The basic version of the tool includes a broad range of material data with a wide

spectrum of grades. The modules microstructure and transformation allow the calculation of

phase transformation and fraction in thermomechanical processes as well as the investigation

of recrystallization processes (dynamic and static) and grain growth.

The Simufact product line covers all

major areas of a simulation environ-

ment for bulk metal forming process

simulation. Thanks to its comprehensive

and well tested CAD/CAE connection -

all standard CAE and many direct CAD

chival storage of models and results. The

Simufact product, with its integrated modular

approach, offers a customized solution for

every industrial application.

interfaces are available – it is possible to

embed the software environment into any

existing CAD/CAE landscape.

In addition Simufact.project offers - as a

one of its kind tool - a data management

environment that allows its users to store,

manage, and analyze all data deriving from

process simulation. With this tool different

simulation runs can be compared, simula-

tion results get stored and the know-how

of employees remains within the company.


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Your Competitive Advantage

Optimize your use of material – increase tool

life – maximize the economical exploitation

of your equipment.

Isn’t that what you ask for every day in your

work life, to get even better than you are in

what you are doing? This is exactly what you

can achieve with virtual process design. Of

course you do have to invest into simulation

tools before you can get started, but this in-

vestment pays off quickly, thanks to lowered

costs in process development and series pro-

duction. Usually process simulation pays off in

only a few months.

“Using Simufact software helps our

production functions to vir tua lly “see”

product behavior in response to the

manufacturing process parameters as

well as the critical design parameters. The

in depth technical support from Simufact

has provided LuK with a tremendous

simulation resource for discovering new

methods for solving difficu lt problems.”

Dr. Kunding Wang,FEA Engineer, LuK USA LLC

„The analysis and optimization of our

complex processes is only possible with

a partner that reacts to the needs of its

customers and is willing to realize devel-

opment requests for its software tools

within a very short time frame. With Simu-

fact we have found such a partner – here

the customer is really within the center of

the attention – also after the acquisition of

the product.”

Jürgen Schüler, Leader Technical Planning, Neumayer Tekfor

„Simufact is one of our most important

strategic partners. Without the experi-

ence and outstanding competence within

the area of process simulation of Simu-

fact we would lose an important part of

our productivity. No other company in this

segment has, in the area of manufacturing

technique, the same skills in software de-

velopment and implementation as Simu-

fact.“

Prof. Dr. Steinhoff, Scientific Technical Director, METAKUS

Simufact – the experts for bulk metal for-

ming and process simulation

Simufact supports its customers as a solution

provider for manufacturing technology, offering

optimization and production process design

by process simulation. In addition, Simufact

provides optimization of formed parts through

structural analysis. With Simufact.forming,

we created a global industry solution for metal

forming. The company also specializes in con-

sulting services, offering individual solutions to

customers’ production problems using state-

of-the-art CAE tools. Training and

technical support for software use comple-

te Simufact’s offerings. Simufact customers

come from all areas of bulk metal forming

technology: forging, cold bulk metal forming,

rolling, sheet metal forming and mechanical

joining.

Fully Automated Multi-Stage Operations with Integrated 2D-3D Transition

Prediction of Spring-Back Effects

Hotsheet Metal Forming with

Local Heating


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Optimize your development and manufacturing processes by working with

Simufact and by implementing the latest technology of Simufact.forming.

Make sure you’ll always stay one step ahead of your competition and

profit from the know-how of Simufact.

Reducer Rolling for Mass Distribution

Talk to us about your specific

process

Multiple Rolling of Sheet-ProfilesRotary Swaging

Simulation of all Mechanical Joining Applications


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experience meets simulation

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