“We have tested Simufact Additive extensively and saw that the solution is going to help us in our daily practice. Our clients expect us to examine the feasibility of 3D printing orders in the early project phase – the simulation of the manufacturing process is the key to this,” said Christoph Hauck, Managing Director of toolcraft. “In the course of further optimization of additively manufactured parts, simulation supplies us with fast and economical indications on how the printing process with different support structures, different orientations within the build space as well as changed machine parameters behave.”
Michael Wohlmuth, Managing Director and CEO at Simufact, said, “Simufact and Toolcraft will continue to collaborate very closely on best practices to optimize the metal additive manufacturing processes. With Toolcraft we found a partner who is an expert at the additive manufacturing process and shares our goal to dramatically improve the process.”
Simufact Additive is used mostly by suppliers, service providers, and companies in the aerospace and automotive sectors; Simufact Engineering GmbH just announced that it has partnered up with voestalpine Additive Manufacturing Center and EDAG Engineering GmbH, under the umbrella of joint project LightHinge+, to demonstrate the potential, and practical use, of additive manufacturing in automotive production. The project itself combines increased safety and lightweight construction in one build – a 3D printed hood hinge.
“Engine hood hinge systems are very complex because of the high demands on safety and functionality. This means that lightweight construction is still on the line,” explained Dr. Martin Hillebrecht, Head of Competence Center Lightweight Construction, Materials and Technologies at EDAG Engineering. “That is why, together with voestalpine and Simufact, we have set ourselves the goal of rethinking the hinge by means of generative production.”
EDAG engineers have already redesigned the hinge system, and then partners had to get to their desired weight advantage for the component structure by using topology optimization and 3D printing. EDAG used bionic principles to find the minimum material requirements, while voestalpine worked with the company to optimize the support structures to ultimately, Simufact explained, “achieve a 50% weight advantage over the reference.”
Dr. Eric Klemp, Managing Director of the voestalpine Additive Manufacturing Center in Düsseldorf, Germany, said, “The topology optimization calculates the minimal material requirements of the hinge. The resulting components geometries require a high proportion of support structures, which we could then minimize to a minimum in the project.”
“In the additive manufacturing process, the concentrated heat input with high heating and cooling rates causes distortion and residual stresses in the component. A non-distortion-compensated hinge can thus deviate from one to two millimeters to the reference geometry respectively,” explained Simufact Product Manager Additive Manufacturing Dr. Patrick Mehmert.
“On the basis of simulated distortion, we have negatively deformed the component geometry so as to minimize the shape deviations of the printed hinges to the target geometry.”
“The LightHinge+ hood hinge fully exploits the potential of additive manufacturing by means of efficient software-assisted engineering. An ultimate weight reduction and integration of a pedestrian protection function, in distortion and self-tension optimized tool-less production with little rework for small series is achieved,” said Dr. Hillebrecht.
If you’re interested in more information on the collaborative LightHinge+ project, the three partners will presenting the results of the project at EDAG’s stand in Hall 5.1, Booth B04 at the IAA exhibition in Germany, which starts tomorrow.
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