Two of additive manufacturing’s leading metal developers promise to deliver exciting opportunities to the industry as they co-locate at formnext 2016.
LPW Technology, who are set to become the first UK company to possess Trumpf’s TruPrint 1000, and 3DSIM, the AM software innovation company, will stand share at Hall 3.1 Stand H18.
The market leader in the development, processing and supply of high quality metal powders, LPW invests strongly in its technical ability. Combining an extensive range of premium quality metal powders, its AM applications expertise and up-to-date laboratory facilities, LPW is able to add quality, testing and traceability throughout the AM process.
“LPW will be delivering a series of insightful seminars on the stand, featuring the topics currently exercising the minds of this fast-moving industry,” says Ben Ferrar, LPW’s Chief Operating Officer. “We’ll also be offering visitors a micro-tour around the ‘AM factory of the future’ demonstrating how our advanced PowderSolve software will rack metal powder throughout the entire AM production process.”
Meanwhile, the rapidly-growing 3DSIM, headquartered in the US, is in the process of developing state-o-the-art software systems that simulate the complex AM build process. Their new software products, exaSIM and FLEX, will be making their European debuts on the stand at formnext.
“By simulating supports, part orientation and other build parameters offline rather than iterating experimentally, exaSIM considerably reduces the costs and risks associated with AM production,” said Brent Stucker, CEO and Co-founder of 3DSIM. “This cloud-based AM simulation tool enables machine users and part designers to predict distortion and residual stress in their parts, and specifies the optimum support placement to deliver improved part accuracy and reduce build failures.”
“FLEX enables AM researchers to design better machines, process parameters, scan strategies, material chemistries and part geometries to accelerate adoption and innovation in AM.”
Recognising the dynamic of the AM industry, Ferrar says LPW are continuously striving to develop AM tools that high-tech industries such as the aerospace, automotive and medical sectors need to be successful.
“AM applications require a detailed understanding of powder properties related to laser interaction, thermal characteristics, and packing behaviour,” said Ferrar. “As the use of metal powders in AM grows, the measurements of all of the critical properties of the powders is crucial, and we’re working hard to develop a suite of intelligence packages that will deliver this information.”
Stucker agrees and believes their collaborative effort at formnext will allow the development of more advanced products.
“By joining forces on the stand at formnext we are demonstrating that by bringing together 3DSIM’s AM process simulation expertise and LPW’s established applications knowledge and well characterised metal powders for metal 3D printing, we can enable end users to develop more reliable and more complex structures, Stucker said.”
