Experience Meets Simulationsimufact.forming

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 start-ed. This approach gives companies control over manufacturing processes as well as over

„Essentially we have been able to impro-ve our overall process regarding process stability with simulation. It helped us to improve quality, 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 ForgingAssociation (IMU)

“The cooperation with our technology partner Simufact has evolved over many years, especially 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 EngineerCornell 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.

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 machine capacity … increased production line availability… less material waste

Frontloading of Physical Testing intothe Computer: process reliability - method optimization - cost reduction

Simufact.forming is a tool for practical use in forming technology. Other simulation en-vironments often require expert computer science knowledge to program complex models. With Simufact.forming this is not the case. The user does not need to deal with the mathematical forming theory nor does he have to handle simulation specific details. Simufact.forming is practical and easy to learn. The user can focus on the details of the forming process instead of on the software.

Simufact.forming deals with all areas of forming technology and guarantees a re-alistic representation of the processes. It includes, among others:

… full 3D functionality and 3D representa- tion of all tools & parts… the actual kinematics of a machine, no matter what type or how complex it might be… material behavior - elasticity, plasticity, increase and decrease of strain harden- ing as well as temperature and velocity related effects… friction and contact between tools and forming parts… self contact of forming parts to predict folds… thermodynamics of the process: initial heating conditions, heat transfer into tools and environment, temperature in- crease due to forming energy and friction, etc.

Simufact.forming’s user interface allows an easy operation of the software. Simufact.forming is the layout software of choice for tool and process developers, supporting them in and simplifying their daily work. With only a few mouse clicks, all standard forming processes can be built and evaluated. But Simufact.forming offers even more. Many additional functions are available to enable the experienced user to model every com-plex process imaginable.

The quality of the results is guaranteed since Simufact.forming is based on MSC.Software’s powerful standard solvers MSC.Marc - the fi-nite element solver for nonlinear applications - and MSC.Dytran - the finite volume solver. Both products are continuously developed further and enable the representation of com-plex nonlinear physics of the forming process with high precision.

Simulation Technology forPractical Use

Simufact.forming stands out by its ease-of-use and short learning phase. The main characteristics of the practice oriented user interface are:

… easy and intuitive windows-like user operations (drag & drop)… all capabilities available in one single environment (2D, 3D, Pre-, Run, Post-)… quick and easy to learn… terminology of forming industry… clear separation into object area (tools, machines, material, etc), process area (forming operations) and graphical model/ results area… all objects can be made available in the database… template-technology

Fully automated remeshing capability for hexa-hedral and tetrahedral meshing technology

CAD data can automatically be imported via direct interfaces.

All types of low-alloyed and stainless steel, copper alloy, brass, aluminum alloy, and inco-nel are available within the material database.

Flow lines can be defined easily. Shear trap or middle line tracing as well as fibre flow visualisation deliver essential infor-mation for the evaluation of the forming process.

The calculation of tool forces and stres-ses helps to define the best possible tool layout, and to avoid premature tool failure.

The Simufact Product LineBesides 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, the tool 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.

Your Competitive AdvantageOptimize 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 virtually “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 difficult 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 withLocal Heating

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

MSC.SuperForm, MSC.SuperForge, MSC.Dytran and MSC.Marc are registered trademarks of MSC.Software.

Global Headquarters:simufact engineering gmbhTempowerkring 3D-21079 HamburgGermanyTel.: +49(0)40 - 790 162-0Fax: +49(0)40 - 790 162-22info@simufact.dewww.simufact.com

Americas Headquarters:Simufact-Americas LLC11685 Spicer DrivePlymouth, MI 48170USATel.: +1(734) 238-2173Fax: +1(866) 899-8386info@simufact-americas.comwww.simufact-americas.com

All pictures in this brochure are by courtesy of:

ALLGATER AUTOMOTIVE GmbH,

Böllhoff GmbH & Co. KG,

EJOT HOLDING GmbH & Co. KG,

Neumayer Tekfor Holding GmbH,

Schmiedag GmbH & Co. KG und

Uponor GmbH