Ampower and Simufact Work Together to Expand Use of Additive Manufacturing Simulation Software

There are many things that can go wrong during a 3D print, and that means wasted money and time, particularly in industrial metal additive manufacturing where every grain of powder is precious. It’s hard to predict when a print will fail, but software exists that allows manufacturers to virtually complete the print job before actually running it, enabling them to catch and fix any potential errors before printing. Simufact is in the business of providing such software. Its Simufact Additive software simulates industrial 3D prints before they are actually printed, so that manufacturers can ensure a perfect build before starting the machine.

German company Ampower is a leading consulting firm for the field of industrial additive manufacturing. Ampower helps its clients determine what components may be suitable for additive manufacturing, as well as providing training. The company also offers assistance with quality management and qualification of internal and external machine capacity.

Ampower has now partnered with Simufact in a new agreement that aims to increase the use of simulation software for 3D printing. Ampower will use Simufact Additive software to assist its customers from the early stages of product development to optimizing production.

“Part distortion induced due to residual stresses is one of the biggest challenges in metal-based additive manufacturing processes,” said Michael Wohlmuth, Managing Director of Simufact Engineering. “Simufact Additive helps the user to predict the consequences of residual stresses. Often distortions are compensated accordingly with an adjustment of the manufacturing data, so that the manufacturing tolerances are met and rejects avoided. With Ampower as a partner, we have gained a team of experts in Additive Manufacturing, helping us to further develop our software solution to meet new market needs.”

The agreement will help companies that use the software to gain thorough information from simulation, even without knowledge of the software. That information will help to optimize each 3D print, reducing production costs and increasing quality of production.

“Additive manufacturing for metal components is a technology that is already indispensable in many industries today,” said Dr.-Ing. Maximilian Munsch, Partner and Co-Founder of Ampower. “Nevertheless, users are constantly confronted with the high complexity of the process and are looking for solutions to sustainably reduce them. Simufact Additive enables us to detect distortions and part defects even before the actual construction process and to counteract these by targeted optimization. This helps us to help our customers avoid high costs and time-consuming trials.”

More and more manufacturers are turning to simulation software in order to get the most out of each 3D print. The partnership between Simufact and Ampower will extend the use of simulation technology to more companies, allowing them to optimize each print and save money, time and material. Simufact and Ampower are both based in Hamburg, Germany.

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