As a strategic partner of SLM Solutions in the advancement of the selective laser melting technology, Rosswag Engineering also qualifies new alloy powders and parameters by combining the capabilities of their simulation software package, powder atomizer and three SLM®280 machines. With the ability to quickly produce special metal powders, simulate build results, print tests using SLM’s material development module, then post-process and inspect builds in-house, the time to market cycle for new materials is reduced from months to weeks.

Using the Material Development Module from SLM Solutions, Rosswag duplicates part

positioning and uses rule-based parameter variation for an automated and systematic analysis of parameter sets. After completing the qualification process, comprehensive data for production, including metal powder characteristics, process parameters, mechanical values and chemical and metallurgical material properties are available.

“At Rosswag Engineering our goal isn’t only to provide our customers with quality products built on metal additive manufacturing machines, rather to help the technology gain acceptance and expand,” stated Gregor Graf, Head of Engineering at Rosswag. “By adding a third selective laser melting system we are able to increase our production capacities and gain more flexibility for demanding material and part qualification processes.”

Hendrik Schonefeld, Head of Sales EMEA at SLM Solutions said, “Our partnership with Rosswag allows us to help customers develop small-batch and exotic alloys to meet their unique needs. SLM Solutions is focused on production applications, and our machines reflect this, however many customers need quick parameter development to prove their process before they get to that step, and the experts at Rosswag allow us to meet their needs as well, creating a full-service selective laser melting partnership for all types of customers.”

So successful is the process developed by the experts at Rosswag that the company was recently the first company certified as metal powder manufacturer by TÜV SÜD Industrie Service GmbH through their audit based on the AD 2000 Code for pressure equipment and the European Pressure Equipment Directive (PED).

About SLM Solutions

SLM Solutions is an integrated solutions provider and metal additive manufacturing partner. The company takes a vested interest in customers’ long-term success with metal additive manufacturing. Robust Selective Laser Melting® machines optimize fast, reliable and cost-efficient part production and SLM Solutions’ experts work with customers at each stage of the process to provide support and knowledge-sharing that elevate use of the technology and ensure their return on investment is maximized. A publicly traded company, SLM Solutions Group AG is headquartered in Germany with offices in France, Italy, the United States, Singapore, Russia, India and China.

“The Siemens and Sonaca partnership combines the power of a leading additive manufacturing software solution with the expertise from a leading aerospace manufacturer,” said Pedro Romero Fernandez, Sonaca General Manager Space BU. “With our deep aerospace knowledge and Siemens’ software technologies such as generative design, automated topology optimization and additive manufacturing process simulation, engineers will be able to explore hundreds of design options in a fraction of the normal time, then virtually test them against a variety of physical conditions to arrive at the best design solution for their performance requirements that 3D print correctly the first time.”

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an important tool for the space industry because it can meet structural and multi-disciplinary requirements for space applications at a much lower weight than conventional space structures made through traditional manufacturing methods. Weight is a particularly critical concern for space applications; according to industry reports, one pound of payload equates to $10,000 in launch costs. Additive manufacturing techniques can be used to lightweight nearly any kind of complex structure in launchers, propulsion, satellites, and various spacecraft components.

Design4AM will leverage the Siemens Digital Innovation Platform with the support of Sonaca’s experience in space applications, manufacturing features, material and process, testing and numerical methods for the validation of the chain. Siemens’ NX software and Simcenter software enable engineers to explore a wide range of design concepts in an automated closed-loop process that takes into consideration engineering performance, manufacturing process and operation cost requirements. These tools can account for manufacturing constraints such as thermo-mechanical part distortion, the structural part orientation in the building chamber or the design of supporting structures. The integrated software environment can shorten the part conceptual design and optimization process, helping enable higher performance structures to be manufactured.

“Additive manufacturing can help ESA reshape everything for optimal performance at reduced cost, in comparison to traditional manufacturing methods that require multiple steps, tools, and treatments to achieve the desired outcome,” said Didier Granville, RTD projects Manager for Siemens in Liège. “Working with Sonaca, we will be able to help ESA take advantage of additive manufacturing to deliver high-performance structures capable of withstanding the extreme forces that occur during space satellite launches.”

About Siemens Digital Industrial Software

Siemens Digital Industries Software is a leading global provider of software solutions to drive the digital transformation of industry, creating new opportunities for manufacturers to realize innovation. With headquarters in Plano, Texas, and over 140,000 customers worldwide, Siemens Digital Industries Software works with companies of all sizes to transform the way ideas come to life, the way products are realized, and the way products and assets in operation are used and understood.

“Using the Simcenter 3D AM Process Simulation solution at toolcraft will allow us to complete our additive manufacturing workflow,” said Christoph Hauck, Managing Director, MBFZ toolcraft GmbH. “Through real-world testing, we have gained confidence that the Siemens AM Process Simulation solution will assist us in ensuring quality output from our print process.”

When metal parts are 3D printed, the method used to fuse the layers of the print typically involves heat. As the layers build up, the residual heat can cause parts to warp inside the printer, causing various problems, from structural issues within the part itself to print stoppage. Issues such as these cause many prints to fail, and make getting a “first-time-right” print very difficult. Simulation of the printing process can help to alleviate many of these problems.

Siemens’ new process simulation product is integrated into the Powder Bed Fusion Process chain in the Siemens PLM Software Additive Manufacturing portfolio and is used to predict distortion for metal printing. The product provides a guided workflow to the user that allows for the assessment of distortions, the prediction of recoater collisions, prediction of areas of overheating, and other important feedback about the print process. The AM Process Simulation solution offers the ability to iterate on a solution between the design and build tray setup steps of the workflow, and the simulation step. This closed feedback loop is possible due to the tightly integrated nature of the Siemens digital innovation platform. The simulation data created feeds into the digital thread of information which informs each step of the printing process. This digital backbone enables the system to develop pre-compensated models and, more importantly, to feed those seamlessly back into the model design and manufacturing processes without additional data translation. This high level of integration is what customers need today in order to be successful in industrializing additive manufacturing.

“This solution is the latest addition to our integrated additive manufacturing platform, which is helping customers industrialize additive manufacturing by designing and printing useful parts at scale,” said Jan Leuridan, senior vice president for Simulation and Test Solutions at Siemens PLM Software. “By using a combination of empirical and computational methods we can increase the accuracy of the simulation process, feeding the digital twin and helping customers better predict their real-world print results. We have proven this over months of real-world testing with some selected first adopter companies. Providing corrected geometry and closed loop feedback can ultimately allow our customers to get better results from their additive manufacturing processes, helping to achieve that first-time-right print and realize innovation with this technology.”

The AM Process Simulation solution is expected to be available in January 2019, as part of the latest NX software and Simcenter 3D software.

Click HERE for more information about producing quality parts with industrial additive manufacturing software.

About Siemens PLM

Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Digital Factory Division, is a leading global provider of software solutions to drive the digital transformation of industry, creating new opportunities for manufacturers to realize innovation. With headquarters in Plano, Texas, and over 140,000 customers worldwide, Siemens PLM Software works with companies of all sizes to transform the way ideas come to life, the way products are realized, and the way products and assets in operation are used and understood. 

About Siemens

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for 170 years. The company is active around the globe, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of efficient power generation and power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2017, which ended on September 30, 2017, Siemens generated revenue of €83.0 billion and net income of €6.2 billion. At the end of September 2017, the company had around 377,000 employees worldwide.

Bentley Systems and Siemens PLM Software Advance Manufacturing Process Productivity through Reality Modeling of Industrial Facilities

Adoption of Bentley’s Vortex Engine Extends BIM Information Mobility to PLM Design and Process Planning Engineers

Bentley Systems and Siemens PLM Software today announced their latest actions to further enhance the integration of the digital product and process lifecycle with the factory’s digital design. The companies have integrated Bentley’s point-cloud building information modeling (BIM) advancement with the state-of-the art process simulation tools in Siemens’ Tecnomatix® software for 3D digital factory automation. This will enable users of Siemens’ product lifecycle management (PLM) software solutions to work from enhanced 3D digital models of existing factories in their “as-operated” conditions – by leveraging the models created from point clouds captured through scanning.

The announcement was made at The Year in Infrastructure 2014 Conference, a global gathering of leading executives in the world of infrastructure design, construction, and operations.

As a result of the new integrated solution, manufacturers can benefit from:

• an earlier start of production, by avoiding construction or production line interferences;
• better quality designs with increased production throughput, reached through accurate simulations of all potential factory layout configurations;
• the rapid creation of as-built plant models, reducing the time and costs associated with modeling the digital factory;
• the ability of the point-cloud model to serve as the as-built/as-operating record of the line, enabling improvements to operational performance through the factory and product and process lifecycle.

To enable these benefits, information mobility, and work process breakthroughs, Bentley and Siemens PLM Software expanded their existing relationship. Bentley’s industrial BIM applications already leverage several of Siemens’ PLM Component software tools including Parasolid® software, D-Cubed software, and the JT data format. As a result of this agreement Siemens PLM Software will now leverage Bentley’s Vortex point-cloud technology and incorporate it into other appropriate Siemens applications as the opportunities continue to expand.

Dick Slansky, Senior Analyst, PLM Research Director, ARC Advisory Group, said, “Since the announcement of their strategic collaboration in November 2012, I have been following the collaboration between Siemens and Bentley closely and have been very excited with what I have been seeing from these two companies working together. They are now delivering a solution for integrating product, process, and production design with the factory infrastructure that significantly benefits manufacturing OEMs and their suppliers. Through the shared knowledge of product and factory/plant lifecycles, EPCs and line builders have access to higher quality information provided by the OEMs. In turn, OEMs and suppliers can expect a reduction in launch time and costs, improved validation of the digital factory, and predictable asset design and installation.”

Faraz Ravi, Bentley Fellow, Bentley Platform Solutions, said, “At Bentley we are gratified to be seeing what we call ‘reality modeling’ yielding such benefits for product and production lifecycles. In industrial plants, occasional surveying can now become almost continuous immersive scanning. Project and asset performance are both improved through information mobility of point clouds by way of Vortex technology. Most significantly, this can now increase industrial agility and quality by enabling shorter product and process design cycles.”

Al Hufstetler, Vice President, Siemens PLM Software, said, “We introduced targeted customers to early integrations of our software, which leveraged the Bentley Vortex tools, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. The value added by bringing the as-built digital factory design into our Tecnomatix process simulation and planning products is clearly a great first step in our adoption of the Bentley tools. Process planning and plant floor designers will benefit from our partnership, which not only enables faster and better iterations, but also provides greater visibility into the path of construction and manufacturing performance.”

About Siemens PLM Software:
Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Digital Factory Division, is a world-leading provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software, systems and services with nine million licensed seats and 77,000 customers worldwide. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Siemens PLM Software helps thousands of companies make great products by optimizing their lifecycle processes, from planning and development through manufacturing and support. Our HD-PLM vision is to give everyone involved in making a product the information they need, when they need it, to make the smartest decision.

For more information, please visit:
www.siemens.com/plm

About Bentley Systems:
Bentley Systems is the global leader dedicated to providing architects, engineers, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators with comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure. Bentley users leverage information mobility across disciplines and throughout the infrastructure lifecycle to deliver better-performing projects and assets. Bentley solutions encompass MicroStation applications for information modeling, ProjectWise collaboration services to deliver integrated projects, and AssetWise operations services to achieve intelligent infrastructure – complemented by worldwide professional services and comprehensive managed services.

Founded in 1984, Bentley has more than 3,000 colleagues in over 50 countries, more than $600 million in annual revenues, and since 2006 has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions.

For more information, please visit:
www.bentley.com

*Note: Bentley, the “B” Bentley logo, Be, Vortex, MicroStation, and ProjectWise are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. D-Cubed, JT, Parasolid and Tecnomatix are trademarks or registered trademarks of Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. All other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

SIGMA Plastic Services, Inc., presents the latest functionality of its 3D Injection Molding Simulation Software SIGMASOFT®. The focus is on reduction of development and production costs using these new developments in process simulation.

Many factors in elastomer injection molding have an influence on product quality and costs. Here it is of little help to solely focus on a single aspect; part design, material, mold design, or molding process. To ensure a competitive advantage, the entire system must be considered simultaneously. Only when everything is optimized during the design phase, before the mold is shipped, can the largest cost savings be achieved.

By means of process simulation, molding feasibility and initial process parameters can be evaluated. Parting line and venting channels can be developed, as well as the optimal type and position of the injection point. Where are weld-lines acceptable, where must they be avoided? How much injection pressure will be required? Ultimately, the complete mold and process must be optimized. What wattage and heater design is most beneficial? Where is the best thermocouple location for each heater? Do inserts need pre-heating and how will they influence the curing? How long is the curing cycle, what areas of the part cure late and why? These questions are all related to the mold design and the production process and they are all important factors regarding part quality.

The simulation results provide answers to all of these questions in a clear and meaningful way, allowing injection molders a way to virtually test the mold before it is built. Costs can be reduced significantly during development, and existing processes can continuously be improved, while substantially reducing material waste and improving quality.

The latest developments in the thermal solver allow for the integration of all mold components and their individual temperature dependent material properties. In this way, an accurate reproduction of the real temperature profile in the mold is possible, even over several consecutive injection molding cycles. The simulation set-up is optimized for the requirements of process engineers. This allows production-minded engineers to use this technology without a simulation background. For example, a process engineer can determine how heating cartridges influence mold temperature and part quality, simulating them with their respective electric power and thermocouple control.

For more information about Sigma Plastic Services, please visit:
www.3dsigma.com

SIGMA^® is 100% owned by MAGMA^®, the world market leader in casting process simulation technology based in Aachen, Germany. Our SIGMASOFT^® process simulation solution optimizes the manufacturing process for injection molded plastic, thermoset, rubber, and MIM/CIM components. SIGMASOFT^® combines the 3D geometry of the parts and runners with the complete mold assembly and temperature control system and incorporates the actual production process to develop a turnkey injection mold with an optimized process.

For more information on MAGMA, please visit:
www.magmasoft.com