simufact.

forming

Experience Meets Simulation

Global competition, smart R&D investments to create innovative products with

the best possible quality at competitive
prices, these are the challenges todays
forming industry is facing.
It is helpful to get a detailed insight into development and manufacturing processes, to assure 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 started. This approach gives companies control
over manufacturing processes as well as over

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 technology and process simulation for the optimization and design of production process.
Simufact develops and distributes Simufact.
forming, an industry sector solution, easy to
implement, user friendly, and based on leading standard technologies.

Essentially we have been able to improve 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.

The cooperation with our technology

partner Simufact has evolved over many
years, especially in the area of ring rolling. Today, by combining the experience
of our engineers with simulation technology, we are in the position to receive process simulation results that are between
90 and 98 percent close to reality.

Gerald Oppelt,
Manager Production Technology, Uponor

Jrgen Schler,
Leader Technical Planning, Neumayer Tekfor

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.

By using simulation software, my abilties

as a forging die designer have enhanced
with many folds. It helps me to visualize 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.

Dr. Theodor L. Tutmann,

Managing Director, German Forging
Association (IMU)

Senior Manufacturing Engineer

Cornell Forge Co, Chicago U.S.A

Challenges in Forming Technology

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.

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 experienced employees stays within your organization if someone leaves?
How do you reduce cycle times for new part
development from several to one week?
These are some of the questions companies in the forming industry are confronting
in their daily work. To sustain in this market
successfully, it is unavoidable to use suitable instruments, which help companies to
reduce manufacturing risks, leave freedom
for new and innovative ideas, and give detailed insights into manufacturing processes.
It is crucial to define the best possible manufacturing process without repetitive physical
tests. This is where the product and service
offerings of Simufact are fitting in.

Frontloading of Physical Testing into

the Computer:
process reliability - method optimization - cost reduction
Companies in the bulk metal forming industry, 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 growing 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 virtual testing, mistakes can be found earlier,
avoided and therefore costs can be saved.

Benefits provided by process simulations:

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

Simulation Technology for

Practical Use
Simufact.forming is a tool for practical use
in forming technology. Other simulation environments 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.formings 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 complex process imaginable.

Flow lines can be defined easily. Shear

trap or middle line tracing as well as fibre
flow visualisation deliver essential information for the evaluation of the forming
process.

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

CAD data can automatically be imported via

direct interfaces.

Simufact.forming deals with all areas of

forming technology and guarantees a realistic 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.

The quality of the results is guaranteed since

Simufact.forming is based on MSC.Softwares
powerful standard solvers MSC.Marc - the finite element solver for nonlinear applications
- and MSC.Dytran - the finite volume solver.
Both products are continuously developed
further and enable the representation of complex nonlinear physics of the forming process
with high precision.

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

Fully automated remeshing capability for hexahedral and tetrahedral meshing technology

All types of low-alloyed and stainless steel,

copper alloy, brass, aluminum alloy, and inconel are available within the material database.

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

The Simufact Product Line

Besides process simulation in itself, it is also
crucial, to use CAE tools which are complementary and support the entire development
process - from first variant testing up to ar-

chival storage of models and results. The

Simufact product, with its integrated modular
approach, offers a customized solution for
every industrial application.

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 efficiently 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 uncoupled 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
customers 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 Transformation. 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 environment for bulk metal forming process
simulation. Thanks to its comprehensive
and well tested CAD/CAE connection all standard CAE and many direct CAD

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, simulation results get stored and the know-how
of employees remains within the company.

Your Competitive Advantage

Optimize your use of material increase tool
life maximize the economical exploitation
of your equipment.

Simufact the experts for bulk metal forming and process simulation

Isnt 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 investment pays off quickly, thanks to lowered
costs in process development and series production. Usually process simulation pays off in
only a few months.

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 consulting services, offering individual solutions to
customers production problems using stateof-the-art CAE tools. Training and

technical support for software use complete Simufacts 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

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.

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 development requests for its software tools
within a very short time frame. With Simufact we have found such a partner here
the customer is really within the center of
the attention also after the acquisition of
the product.

Simufact is one of our most important

strategic partners. Without the experience and outstanding competence within
the area of process simulation of Simufact 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 development and implementation as Simufact.

Dr. Kunding Wang,

Jrgen Schler,

Prof. Dr. Steinhoff,

FEA Engineer, LuK USA LLC

Leader Technical Planning, Neumayer Tekfor

Scientific Technical Director, METAKUS

Prediction of Spring-Back Effects

Hotsheet Metal Forming with

Local Heating

Talk to us about your specific

process
Optimize your development and manufacturing processes by working with
Simufact and by implementing the latest technology of Simufact.forming.
Make sure youll always stay one step ahead of your competition and
profit from the know-how of Simufact.

Reducer Rolling for Mass Distribution

Rotary Swaging

Multiple Rolling of Sheet-Profiles

Simulation of all Mechanical Joining Applications

Global Headquarters:
simufact engineering gmbh
Tempowerkring 3
D-21079 Hamburg
Germany
Tel.: +49(0)40 - 790 162-0
Fax: +49(0)40 - 790 162-22
info@simufact.de
www.simufact.com
Americas Headquarters:
Simufact-Americas LLC
11685 Spicer Drive
Plymouth, MI 48170
USA
Tel.: +1(734) 238-2173
Fax: +1(866) 899-8386
info@simufact-americas.com
www.simufact-americas.com

All pictures in this brochure are by courtesy of:

ALLGATER AUTOMOTIVE GmbH,
Bllhoff GmbH & Co. KG,
EJOT HOLDING GmbH & Co. KG,
Neumayer Tekfor Holding GmbH,
Schmiedag GmbH & Co. KG und
Uponor GmbH

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