Materialise and Simufact partner on simulation for metal Additive Manufacturing
Materialise NV and Simufact Engineering GmbH have announced an OEM license agreement that will allow Materialise Magics users to better control the pre-build process by applying Simufact’s process simulation within their familiar data preparation environment. In addition, the support structures in Simufact Additive software will be represented with Materialise Magics features.
The running of Additive Manufacturing process simulations can require expert knowledge due to the complexity of the process. According to the partners, the combination of Simufact’s simulation expertise with Materialise’s full process AM expertise is expected to offer a straightforward workflow for Magics users who want to apply simulation within their processes.
The systematic use of process simulation can drastically reduce the number of prototypes required in the development phase, while improving the quality and lifetime of the products. This minimises time-to-market and development costs. Implementing simulation within Materialise Magics is said to allow R&D departments, universities and designers to seamlessly shift from a heuristic approach to a scientific, validated approach.
Stefaan Motte, Vice President of Software at Materialise, stated, “Quality control is currently one of the most important challenges to meet the demanding requirements of our customers. Our Inspector software already provides control during and after the build process and now Magics users will be able to predict errors before production. We are very confident that the combination of our well-established Magics software with proven simulation technology from a market leader like Simufact will offer competitive simulation-driven solutions to the AM market.”
“Support structure generation is a standard process in the AM build preparation workflow, and Magics software is a market-leading tool for this purpose,” added Dr Hendrik Schafstall, CTO at Simufact Engineering. “When it comes to optimising the build process based on simulation results, the support structure plays a significant role in achieving first-time-right print results. Our customers will benefit from Materialise’s leading representation of support structures integrated in Simufact Additive, further strengthening our simulation process chain.”
Visitors to formnext, currently underway in Frankfurt, Germany, can book a demo session at the Materialise booth, Hall 3.0 C48.
www.software.materialise.com/3d-printing-software
www.simufact.com/simufact-additive
