Simufact Additive 2023.4 Introducing Simufact Additive

Tutorial
Simufact Additive
Simufact Additive Tutorial
Copyright © Hexagon AB
Simufact Additive Tutorial 1
Copyright © 2023 Hexagon AB and/or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved.
This documentation, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may be used only in accordance with the terms of such license.
Hexagon reserves the right to make changes in specifications and other information contained in this document without prior notice. The concepts, methods, and
examples presented in this text are for illustrative and educational purposes only, and are not intended to be exhaustive or to apply to any particular engineering
problem or design. Hexagon assumes no liability or responsibility to any person or company for direct or indirect damages resulting from the use of any information
contained herein. This notice shall be marked on any reproduction of this documentation, in whole or in part. Any reproduction or distribution of this document, in
whole or in part, without the prior written consent of Hexagon is prohibited.
This software may contain certain third-party software that is protected by copyright and licensed from third party licensors. Additional terms and conditions and/or
notices may apply for certain third-party software. Such additional third-party software terms and conditions and/or notices may be set forth in documentation and/or
at http://www.mscsoftware.com/thirdpartysoftware (or successor website designated by Hexagon from time to time).
PCGLSS 8.0, Copyright © 1992-2023 Computational Applications and System Integration Inc. All rights reserved. Portion of this software are owned by Siemens
Product Lifecycle Management Software, Inc. © Copyright 2023.
Trademarks
Hexagon, the Hexagon logo, and other logos, product and service names of Hexagon and its subsidiaries are trademarks or registered trademarks of Hexagon AB
and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries.
3Dconnexion and SpaceDevice are registered trademarks of 3Dconnexion Inc.

Nastran is a registered trademark of NASA.
FLEXlm and FLEXNet Publisher are trademarks or registered trademarks of Flexera Software.
Parasolid is a registered trademark of Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software, Inc.
All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.
Patents
U.S. Patent No. 10,740,910
Contact
https://hexagon.com/support-success/manufacturing-intelligence/design-engineering-support
Table of contents
Simufact Additive basics tutorial
Throughout this
◆ This tutorial is intended for first time users of Simufact Additive. It will tutorial a lot of
explain the basic concepts of the software and show you its capabilities helpful tips and
as well as demonstrate the typical workflows. tricks will be shown
in this sidebar. The
◆ The topics covered in this tutorial are: categories are:
◆ Introducing Simufact Additive
◆ GUI Overview Note: helpful
◆ Example: Quickstart information for
◆ Introducing the Inherent Strain Method
starters
◆ Example: Mechanical Simulation Tip: hints and
◆ Spatial Distributed Calibration - Mechanical
background
information
◆ Introducing the Thermal Cycle Method
◆ Example: Thermomechanical Simulation
Important:
essential information
◆ Calibration Summary
◆ Example: Distortion Compensation
Warning: risk of
data loss or
◆ Example: Support Optimization
malfunctions
◆ Cost Estimation
Caution:
◆ Example: Heat Treatment
possible sources of
◆ Example: PBF process & defect analysis
errors
◆ Example: Metal Binder Jetting
◆ Example: Machining
Infosheet
◆ Materials for Additive
◆ Postprocessing
Tutorial chapter
◆ Example: Geometry Inspection Demo example
◆ Scripting Capabilities
◆ Nexus

Tutorial
Introducing Simufact Additive
Back to p.1
Simufact product lines
◆ Supporting the optimization of
metal based manufacturing processes
Simufact
Direct Energy Deposition

processes (DED) can be simulated
Fraunhofer IWU
with Simufact Welding
◆ Simulation of 3D-printing Powder Bed Methods with

Simufact Additive
▪ Laser Beam Melting (LBM)
▪ Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)
▪ Selective Laser Melting (SLM)
▪ Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS)
▪ Sintering of a Metal Binder Jetting (MBJ) process

Main issues during 3D-printing
◆ Distortion
▪ Part can be outside tolerances
▪ Minimize vertical distortion to avoid powder scraper collision
▪ Recalculate with pre-distorted shape for compensation
◆ Residual stresses
▪ Cause cracking Source: Contact-Free Support Structures for Part
▪ Failed supports can lead to distortion Overhangs in Powder-Bed Metal Additive
Manufacturing Kenneth Cooper Phillip Steele, Bo
▪ Reduce strength and fatigue life Cheng, Kevin Chou
➢ Possible Build Job Abortion

➢ Iterative Trial & Error Source: NDES
➢ Losing Time & Money 
Source: NDES Source: NDES

Further issues
◆ Quality (e.g. defects, density, pores, binding, surface, …)
◆ Productivity / Speed
◆ Repeatability
▪ Identical process parameters might result in different
microstructures and properties
◆ Strength
◆ Durability
◆ Influence of many parameters
◆ Only short-term experience
Source: NDES
◆ Lack of experience
◆ High material costs
◆ High hourly machine costs
➢ Reduce Trial & Error

➢ Reduce Time & Costs
➢ Need for Process Simulation
Different processes in Simufact Additive
◆ Simufact Additive comes with four different process types:
Metal powder Metal binder Geometry Metal powder

Machining
bed fusion jetting inspection bed fusion and
Metal binder jetting
are licensed
separately.
The Machining
comes with the
Metal powder bed
fusion module.
◆ The metal powder bed fusion process comes with an automated
distortion compensation, support optimization and a fast purely mechanical Geometry
and a thermal-mechanical coupled approach among other things. inspection is always
available.
◆ The metal binder jetting process allows you to simulate the sintering of a
part and includes an automated distortion compensation mode. Additionally,
◆ With the geometry inspection process, a CAD-part can be compensated Simufact Additive
provides scripting
without a time-consuming simulation, by comparing it to a scanned capabilities with a
geometry. build in python
terminal.
◆ The machining module allows a simulation of the relaxation of the part by
removing machined volumes in a specific sequence.

Process chain coverage Powder Bed Fusion
We aim at covering a wide range of the AM process chain:

◆ Creating the part by means of Additive Manufacturing
◆ Stress relief by means of heat treatment
◆ Cutting the part off the base plate
◆ Removal of supports
◆ Hot Isostatic Press treatment (HIP)
◆ Relaxation of the part after machining

Presenting Nexus
Nexus is an open platform that enhances smart manufacturing collaboration by connecting

people, technologies and data, accelerating innovation and time to market.
https://nexus.hexagon.com/
Nexus will be the foundation for Hexagon’s new offerings in the smart manufacturing space. We
have developed a first release of Nexus and there is a strategic roadmap in place for the platform
to better serve the needs of our customers and partners.
◆ For an introduction and more information, please refer to the Nexus Chapter of this
Tutorial!

Virtually explore the influence of the process chain
Build Stage
(Initial stage) Heat Treatment Cooling
Result value shown: Equivalent stress

Cut from Base Plate Remove Support Structures HIP
• After the build stage any other process sequence can be investigated

Scalable analysis approaches
◆ Simufact Additive uses simplified approaches for the powder bed fusion
simulation to produce acceptable simulation times:
◆ Mechanical Inherent Strain approach
▪ Extremely fast
▪ Element layer (> powder layer) analyzed in one
increment
▪ Delivers Distortions & Stresses
◆ Thermal/ Thermomechanical approach
▪ Thermal or thermo-mechanical coupled
▪ Simplified thermal cycle approach
▪ Element layer analyzed in multiple increments
▪ Able to deliver approximate thermal history and derived results
◆ Heat source model
▪ Moving Heat Source Model
▪ High level of Detail
▪ Full transient thermo-mechanically coupled, i.e. welding
▪ Not possible with Simufact Additive but with Simufact Welding
Information
Exchange

Mechanical approach
IMPLEMENTATION RESULTS
◆ Inherent strain
method – purely ◆ Part distortion
mechanical ◆ Residual stress
◆ Cantilever tests to distribution
automatically
calibrate inherent
strain parameters
based on experiment
BENEFIT
◆ Extremely fast
simulation
Thermal/ thermomechanical approach
◆ Simplified thermal
cycle method ◆ Residual stress
distribution
◆ Based on actual laser
and hatching properties ◆ Part distortion
◆ Automatic calibration of ◆ Temperature
the energy input and distribution
the thermal expansion
needed based on
experiment
BENEFIT
◆ Reasonable fast in
computation time
◆ Consideration of
temperature
dependencies
Heat source model
◆ Transient FE-method ◆ Temperature history
◆ Utilizing heat source ◆ Mechanical
geometry properties
◆ Based on real ◆ Stress
scanning path ◆ Distortion
BENEFIT Unsuitable for

◆ Highest level on the simulation of
physical information a whole part due
to unreasonably
◆ Consideration of high simulation
temperature times. Only
dependencies appropriate for a
◆ Allows for detail analysis.
investigations of
basic parameters
Can only be modelled
with Simufact Welding
View manipulation and interacting with Simufact Additive:
◆ Mouse controls:
Left mouse button (LMB) Right mouse button (RMB) Middle mouse button (MMB)
If your system is
Single click = select Single click = context menu Press and pan or scroll wheel set up for a left-
Hold = pan view / drag Hold = rotate view = zoom to region handed mouse,
Double click = zoom to part Double click = reset view Simufact Additive
will adapt
Step number Single mouse click Double mouse click Order of picking RMC accordingly!
# a
In addition to a
regular mouse, the
use of 3DConnexion
◆ Keyboard controls: space navigators is
supported as well!
➢ Please refer to the infosheet for all available keyboard shortcuts:
© 3DConnexion

Simufact Additive help and documentation system:
◆ Simufact Additive aims to provide you with the required information where
you need it.
◆ Keep an eye out for brief descriptions, linked infosheets , tutorial
chapters or demo models !
◆ Simufact maintains a vast array of example processes which are available
for every user.
◆ These demos & examples will help you set up similar processes with ease.
Infosheets are
spread throughout
the Simufact
Forming GUI and
provide valuable
information!
Simufact Additive help and documentation system:
◆ We have created a video where a complete set up of a printing process

with a subsequent heat treatment is introduced.
In the following
chapters printing
processes will be
explained from the
beginning step by
step.
Click the play
button to play the
video!

Tutorial
GUI Overview
Back to p.1
GUI Overview
Graphical User Interface (GUI) of Simufact Additive Getting used to
the S+ vocabulary
◆ This chapter provides an orientation of the Additive GUI will help future
learning!
◆ The functionalities are only summarized briefly to get an overview. For a
more detailed description refer to the infosheets The GUI is
designed to be
11 modular. You can
5 hide/display or
rearrange most
elements!
6 7 8 9 10
For more
information about
1 the animation and
camera toolbar,
4 open the infosheet
in the lower left
corner of the view
1 – Legend
2 – Status information
3 – Animation toolbar
4 – Camera toolbar
5 – Main toolbar
6 – Processes widget
7 – Machine widget
2 8 – Manufacturing &
optimization widget
9 – Analysis widget
3 10 – Results widget
11 – Status bar

GUI Overview
Startup window
◆ Create or open a project.

One project can include
several processes
◆ Access the tutorial and A project can
training material also be opened via
drag & drop on the
◆ Set your default process startup window
type. Each of the three base
products needs its own The process
license type Geometry
Inspection is not
◆ Quicky access your projects licensed separately
you have worked on About S+ shows you the installed version and always available
recently . You can delete all and your entitlement ID. This might be
red entries with relevant for the product support
Access the S+ settings
Open the python terminal to use S+ scripting
capabilities

GUI Overview
Graphical user interface (GUI) of Simufact Additive
◆ Simufact Additive provides a user friendly, workflow-oriented GUI
Machine Manufacturing Analysis Results

Processes widget & optimization widget widget
widget widget
GUI workflow example
Step 1: Part imported Step 2: Supports generated Step 3: Mesh created Step 4: Intermediate analysis result
Step 5: Result after manufacturing Step 6: Result heat treatment Step 7: Result after cutting Step 8: Result after support removal

GUI Overview
Widget navigation
◆ After creating a new process, the main toolbar with the first four widgets
are available. The last widget becomes available, once simulation results
are present The main toolbar
◆ The color bars indicate if all information in one widget is defined (green), can be dragged
anywhere on your
there is optional information that is not defined (yellow) or if there is screen by clicking
mandatory information that is missing (red) on its left side
For a Geometry
Inspection process,
only the first two
widgets are
needed/available
A double-click on
the eye icon of a
◆ By clicking on a widget, its submenu can be accessed specific part or
support, highlights it
◆ The eye icons can be clicked on and indicate if a component is visible, in the model view
partly visible or not visible and centers the
camera onto it
◆ Each submenu is pinned to its current position. They can be unpinned
with and dragged anywhere

GUI Overview
Processes widget
The active
◆ This widget gives an overview of all processes in the project and allows you processes name is
to manage them highlighted and is
◆ The symbol of this widget changes with the active processes type: displayed in the
status bar and in the
▪ Metal Powder Bed Fusion (MPBF) process information
▪ Metal Binder Jetting (MBJ) in the lower left
corner of the window
▪ Machining
▪ Geometry Inspection
Create a new process For a scripting
documentation, the
Open the python terminal and other scripting options python terminal links
◆ Double clicking on a process entry opens its process properties dialog the Scripting chapter
of this tutorial and a
◆ The right-click context menu of a process allows you to copy it with or reference handbook
without results among other options
◆ After a simulation was started, the colors You can import
results from one
indicate the current status of the process process into another
▪ Green: Simulation successfully finished one without results.
This option is only
▪ Blue: Simulation is running displayed if the
▪ Orange: Simulation was stopped by the user process without
results has a part
▪ Red: Simulation aborted assigned.

GUI Overview
Machine widget
◆ Define all components in the current process. If this widget is active, the
view changes to the model view, where the parts are displayed by their
default surface mesh
For hybrid
Machine: Define machine parameters used in a MPBF or MBJ process manufacturing
MPBF processes, it
◆ Parts: Import or export parts. The right-click context menu of a part is possible to import
provides various options such as modifying the dimensions. For a MPBF the base part with
results with a .unv
process, define the parts/supports relative density or orthotropic properties file
in its Properties dialog
Supports: Import supports or generate them in S+ with three different Support and
Setters are
approaches organized in groups
Setters: Import of setter structures that are assigned to
a part. Only the
Machined Part: Import the resulting machined part properties of all
◆ Material: Import a material from the Simufact Material database used for supports in a group
can be edited by
the parts/supports. For more information refer to the Materials for Additive double-clicking on
Chapter of this Tutorial or to the Simufact Material documentation the group name
Base plate: A default geometry for the base plate is always present
after creating a process. Its X-Y-dimensions are linked to the build space in
the Machine entry

GUI Overview
Machine widget
◆ Additional geometries: Import your reference geometries for result
transformation, shape comparison or distortion compensation and
machining volumes and fixation geometries for a Machining process
Multiple
selection of supports
on a component in the model view highlights it and marks its entry in the in a group is
Machine widget menus and vice versa. While holding CTRL, multiple available by holding
selections are possible. CTRL+A selects all entities CTRL to select
single supports one
in the model view provides a context menu with various options: by one or by holding
Display shading of a single component SHIFT to select all
entries between two
Display outline supports.
Display mesh
Display wireframe The Cost
estimation and
Display transparent Orientation
Switch visibility assistant are
▪ These display options are also available introduced in the
Cost Estimation
with a right-click in the widget chapter of this
▪ The View tools enables you to create cutting tutorial.
planes, provide a measuring tool and review a
point with the query tool

GUI Overview
Manufacturing & optimization widget
◆ Define an optimization strategy and the stages of your process
Distortion compensation: Run multiple subsequent simulations that

aim to reduce the distortions in each step. This is described in the chapters
Example: Distortion Compensation and Example: Metal Binder Jetting of
this tutorial
Support optimization: Improve the support configuration to reduce
distortions and material needed. This is described in the chapter Example:
Support Optimization of this tutorial
◆ Stages: Displays the sequence of stages of your process. Add stages or
change the order in the process properties dialog by double-clicking on
Stages. Most of the stage's properties can be edited by double-clicking on
their entry
GUI Overview
Analysis widget
◆ Different types of meshes are present in S+. If this widget is active, the The submenus
of Surface and
view changes to the analysis view where the meshes in their undeformed Volume mesh list all
state can be evaluated parts and,
depending on your
setup, also the base
◆ Surface mesh: Remesh your surface with triangular facets. plate. Double-
clicking on the
▪ A surface mesh is always present from import on. By default, the Surface or Volume
existing facets of the imported part are used. CAD geometries get mesh entry will
mesh all geometries.
surface meshed during import. After remeshing, the default mesh can Clicking on a
always be restored. specific entry will
▪ This mesh is not used for the analysis itself. For MPBF and Machining, only mesh this
geometry.
where voxel elements are used, the results are mapped onto the
surface mesh. That's why the facets size should be of the same order The surface and
than the voxel size. A surface remesh and result remapping can even volume mesh can
be performed if results are present. also be imported
from a file
▪ The mesh can be exported into different formats. The export into a
.unv file is possible in the Results widget For a distortion
compensation, the
surface cannot be
remeshed once
results are present

GUI Overview
Analysis widget
Voxel mesh: Create the voxel mesh with hexahedral elements as a
discrete representation of the part. This mesh is used by the FE solver for
the analysis
◆ Volume mesh: Create a tetrahedral mesh.
For MPBF and Machining processes, this is not needed for the Only give the
simulation and only used for .unv export. This export can be done from base plate a volume
this widget for the initial mesh only or from the Results widget for an mesh if needed,
since this may take
export of the deformed mesh with results. Then, this mesh can also be long.
generated after results are present.
For a MBJ process, the solver uses this mesh for the analysis and The boundary
therefore it is necessary for the process. conditions are
hardcoded for each
◆ Numerical parameters: Provides several settings like parallelization, stage and can‘t be
output division etc. changed. The
springs stabilize the
Show boundary conditions: analysis.
Available in the right-click context
menu of the analysis view. Displays
the boundary conditions for different
stages in the view.

GUI Overview
Results widget
◆ This widget becomes available as soon as results are present. If it is Open a new
result window. The
selected, the view changes to the results view where meshes and their views can be
results can be evaluated. synchronized with
the camera toolbar
Surface results: Evaluate the results on your deformed geometry that Surface results
were mapped from the voxel mesh onto the surface mesh. The context are only available at
menu of this entry provides several options: the end of loadcases
▪ Map results to…: Manually map the results onto the surface of a component
Some of the
▪ Result transformation: Transform your results to arbitrary coordinate systems context menu
Shape comparison: Analyze the shape deviation between the deformed and the entries are available
undeformed state. This might be necessary due to rigid body motion for voxel and volume
results too
▪ UNV export: Export the facetted surface to a .unv file which includes selected
result increments and result values The mapping to
▪ Export results: Export the surface and voxel mesh into different other formats at supports is not done
a specific result increment, with or without results, depending on the format. For automatically and
this export, the displacements can be scaled. may take very long
Export to machine: Export the scan trajectories of the build job

The Export to
Export CAD: If the part was imported as CAD, the deformed geometry can be
machine and
exported as CAD too, by morphing the original file based on the displacements Export CAD need
▪ Mange results: Free disk space by deleting result increments permanently their own licenses

GUI Overview
Results widget
Voxel results: View the voxel results. The UNV Export option in the
context menu becomes available once a volume mesh is created. In
contrast to the UNV Export of the surface results, this option exports the
volume tetrahedral mesh
Volume results: This entry provides the results of the tetrahedral mesh
Additional: Provides an overview of the clamping for the base plate
fixation and is therefore only present if the base plate is modelled
deformable
Calibration, Distortion compensation, Support
optimization results: Summarizes all iterations of these process types
In the result view provides several options:

▪ Display the deformations with a scale factor
▪ Filter the elements by the size of their result value
with the General filter
▪ Display the undeformed geometry as reference
▪ Display intermediate results to show a more detailed
process progress

GUI Overview 1 2 3 4 5
Status bar
1. Main menu
2. Save Button: You can also use the shortcut CTRL+S to save. For more,
refer to the infosheet Keyboard shortcuts in the main menu
3. Process Bar: Displays name of the active process. Shows the progress of
the current loadcase, whereas the process bar in the Processes widget The text editor
shows the overall progress your log files are
opened with can be
4. Modell Check: Check the status of your processes for valuable hints or for defined in the
errors that prevent the simulation from starting settings
5. Analysis Status
The restart
Start the analysis functionality is
Stop a running analysis shown and
explained in the
Unlock a process to change parameters for a re-start (Only if re-start chapter Example:
files are present) Heat Treatment
Restart the analysis with changed parameters

Delete all results permanently
Open the convergence monitor
Open the log files

GUI Overview
Templates and databases
◆ You can save your template in a local
library for your own use or in a shared
library so that others can access it
◆ When creating a new project, you can
use existing templates
Find the path for

both libraries in the
settings under
General -> Master
library
The shortcut
◆ Several dialogs contain a database Ctrl+E will open the
section where you can save this specific file explorer as well
dialogs settings for later usage
Adds the current dialogs settings with
the specified name to the database
Saves the entry as .xml format
▪ Hovering over an entry and right-
clicking will open a context menu
which allows you to open the
database directory or to delete it

Tutorial
Example: Quickstart
Back to p.1
Example: Quickstart
Introduction
◆ This example is designed as an entry into the simulation of additive
manufacturing processes with Simufact Additive.
◆ The tutorial will guide you through the whole process step by step.
◆ You will print an aluminum aircraft component and evaluate its distortions.
◆ After that, a second simulation will be created with a compensated
geometry.
This is only a
◆ Finally, you will learn how to compare the results. simplified simulation
◆ You can find the complete model in the Simufact Demos under Aircraft for the first
assessment. For a
component. detailed simulation
please refer to the
chapter Example:
Mechanical
Simulation.
Example: Quickstart
Creating a new project
◆ Start Simufact Additive The section
‘Recent projects’
▪ You can find shortcuts on the desktop or in the start menu: allows you quick
access to the last 10
recent projects. You
can also delete the
quick access of
projects from this
section. Projects not
found on the disk
◆ Upon starting, the following dialog opens: will be marked red.
▪ Select ‘New project…‘
Please note that
deleting the contents
from this list does
not delete the
project from the
disk.
You can find the

infosheet button in
several dialogs. An
infosheet contains
detailed description
about the dialog.

Example: Quickstart
Project location and process properties
◆ Select name and storage location of the project:
The section
‘Brief description’
▪ Please enter the name ‘Aircraft- gives you short
component’. information about
the object where the
▪ Select a location where the project mouse is positioned
should be saved. on. You can find this
section in every
dialog of Simufact
Additive.
In some dialogs
you can find the
◆ Define process properties: section ‘Comment’
within you can add
▪ In this dialog you can define the specific descriptions
process and analysis type. and comments, i.e.
process properties
▪ For this example, we use the
and information
default settings. about variants. The
comment is only for
information purpose.
Example: Quickstart
Simufact Additive GUI
◆ You will now see the Simufact Additive GUI with an empty build space:
Processes Results
This is the
Simufact Additive
Name of the selected GUI. You can use
machine in the Machine Analysis
Manufacturing the mouse controls
process properties & optimization which are described
in the chapter
‘Introducing
Simufact Additive’.
For more
Camera detailed information
toolbar about the single
buttons and widgets
please refer to the
tutorial chapter
Base plate Coordinate “GUI_Overview”.
system
Example: Quickstart
Importing the component geometry
◆ Import a ‘component / part’:
▪ Please click on the ‘Machine’ widget You can access

a to display its contents. the properties dialog
either by using left
b ▪ Left double mouse click on ‘Parts’ or double mouse click,
right mouse click and select ‘Import’. or using the right
mouse click and
selecting properties.
The table below

shows you the
import formats which
Simufact Additive
c supports:
◆ You can find the aircraft component CAD-file in the following path:
▪ …\simufact\additive\<version>\examples\metal_powder_bed_fusion\air
craft_component\CAD-Data\01_aircraft_component.stp

Example: Quickstart
CAD import options
◆ In the next Dialog you can select the import options of the STEP file.
◆ Here you can select the meshing parameters of the surface mesh.
◆ Click on Import with the parameters selected.

Example: Quickstart
Geometry import and positioning
◆ The following dialog shows the dimensions of the part that is about to be
imported. You can also do a quick first positioning here (e.g. center the part Make sure to
select the right unit
in the build space). system when you
◆ Now center the part and set a ‘Distance to bottom’ of 5.0 mm. import a part.
You can also

check if your
imported geometry
fits in the machine
dimensions.
Therefore, compare
the dimensions of
the build space and
the component’s
f bounding box.
g
Use the
h centering buttons to
place your part in
the center of the
i
build space. Or
enter a position
manually.

Example: Quickstart
Model view after geometry import
◆ Your model view should now look like this:
Space for the

support structures
Part placed on
machine base
plate
Example: Quickstart
Create support structures
◆ To generate support structures with Simufact Additive, click on the Instead of
Supports container. Then double click on the desired part group: creating the support
structures, you can
also import existing
support geometries
by using the option
‘Import’ when you
right-click on a part
a
group.
Besides the
Simufact cylinder
supports it is also
possible to generate
supports with a
CADS Additive
support generator.
While creating the
support structures
you have several
options, e.g. the
support radius. You
can find more
detailed information
b c about them in the
infosheet linked in
the dialog.

Example: Quickstart
Preview support structures
◆ Before creating support structures, the surfaces where the supports will be
created can also be previewed in the model view with the button 'Preview':
Example: Quickstart
Model view after support generation
Please note that

after creating the
support structures
the model legend
will be expanded by
the amount of
support structures
which are added.
Several support
structures are
assembled to one
geometry to get a
better handling of a
Supports added single support
to part structure.
Example: Quickstart
◆ The support structures are organized in different groups which are all
displayed in the same color by default.
◆ By right-clicking on the Model legend and deselecting ‘Group by object
type’, you can display all support structure groups in different colors.
Example: Quickstart
Part material selection
◆ To select your powder material, open the ‘Machine‘ widget and double click
the Material entry or right-click and select ‘Library’.
For more
information about
b material used in
a
Simufact Additive,
please refer to the
tutorial chapter
“Material for
Additive”.
◆ Select AlSi10Mg_powder and confirm your choice with OK.

Example: Quickstart
Considering base plate deformation
◆ To consider a deformable base plate please enter the base plate properties
and select the ‘Consider base plate deformation’ option:
You will note that

the status bar below
the machine widget
turns green which
means that the
minimum required
information are
defined in machine
a widget. We will
define the
▪ If you want to use a consideration of
deformable base plate, base plate
you must assign a deformation next
which is not
material to it. absolutely required
▪ Click the ‘import to start the
simulation.
material from library’
b
c button.
Example: Quickstart
Base plate material selection
◆ Simufact Material opens and shows you the recommended materials:
◆ Select AlSi10Mg_baseplate and confirm with OK.
◆ Accept the base plate properties with OK as well.

Example: Quickstart
Defining the build properties
◆ Open the ‘Manufacturing & optimization’ widget and open the Build
properties:
▪ Please leave the default
parameters. This is because the
a
inherent strains are unknown.
We assume for the first
b
simulation that we have For more
isotropic conditions. information about
the inherent strains
please see chapter
‘Introducing the
inherent strain
method‘ of this
tutorial.
▪ Confirm with OK.
Example: Quickstart
Defining the cutting from the base plate
◆ First, we do need to replace ‘Immediate release‘ by ‘Cutting‘. Therefore,
double click on Stages and add ‘Cutting‘ stage after the ‘Build’ stage. Then
delete the ‘Immediate release’ stage:
a The ‘Cutting’
stage simulates a
cut through the
b supports to detach
the part/ supports
from the base plate
in multiple time
steps. The
‘Immediate release’
stage just separates
the bottom nodes of
the parts/ supports
from the base plate.
Example: Quickstart
◆ For this example, select the Mode ‘Directional cutting’ and set the ‘Height’ We use a cutting
height of 1 mm to
at 1 mm. avoid cutting
◆ Set the cutting direction to ‘+X (left to right)’ and confirm with OK. through the possible
deformed base plate
after the printing.
Note the
a
interactive preview
in the model view
c when changing the
cutting height.
b
For this tutorial
we use the mode
‘Directional
cutting‘. The mode
‘Arbitrary cutting‘
offers more refined
possibilities to cut
the part from the
base plate. For more
detailed information,
please refer to the
infosheet linked in
the dialog.

Example: Quickstart
Defining the support removal properties
At the beginning
◆ Open the ‘Support removal’ properties and select a removal of all existing all support structures
support structures. will be assigned to
‘Unassigned
supports’ which
means that these
supports will not be
a c removed during the
simulation. By using
the buttons ( , )
you can assign or
deselect single
b support structure, or
all support
structures with the
buttons ( , ).
You can also

create more than
one support removal
stage to consider
the sequence of
support removal.
Therefore, please
add more ‘Support
d removal’ stages in
‘Stages’

Example: Quickstart
Model view of surface mesh
◆ Use a right-click on the component to open the context menu:
It is also
possible to hide a
component. To do
so, right-click on the
component which
you want to hide and
Select “Mesh” under Display mode
then disable the
to display the surface mesh
option “Visible”
under Display mode
b in the context menu.
Please make
sure that the surface
mesh is not too
coarse. This is
a
important when the
results are mapped
to the surface mesh.
Right mouse click
on the component

Example: Quickstart Simufact
Additive uses
Creating the voxel mesh hexahedral
elements (voxel
◆ Double click the ‘Voxel mesh’ entry in the ‘Analysis’ widget to open the elements) for the
meshing properties: calculation, where
all components
(part, supports and
a base plate) share
common nodes. The
voxel mesh should
be fine enough for
results mapping.
◆ Change the parameter for the voxel meshing as shown in figure and The thickness of
confirm with OK: the base plate can
be defined in
machine widget >
Base plate > Base
plate properties >
d Geometry >
Thickness.
Note: The base
plate gets a voxel
mesh as well,
because we
selected the
‘Consider base plate
deformation’ option
in base plate
c properties earlier.

Example: Quickstart
Model view after the voxel meshing
◆ Now, the voxel mesh used for the upcoming calculation is presented in the
model view. As you can see, the voxels outrange the actual geometry. The
following slides explain this concept.
Toggles on/ off

surface and voxel
mesh visibility
Example: Quickstart
Voxel mesh and ‘Volume fraction’
◆ The ‘Volume fraction’ is a value which describes how much volume of the The feature
voxel element is actually filled by the geometry. To display the volume ‘Show volume
fraction, double-click on Voxel mesh again and activate ‘Show volume fraction’ in voxel
mesh properties is
fraction’ as below: only available once
a voxel mesh exists.
Beneath ‘Voxel
mesh’ is the ‘Volume
mesh’ entry. There
you can mesh your
a parts/ supports/
base plate with
tetrahedral
elements. This is
only used for a
volume export of
your results and not
for the S+ process
itself. Therefore, to
perform a S+
simulation, a volume
mesh is not
c necessary.

Example: Quickstart
◆ The figure below shows the ‘Volume fraction’ of the model which is cut into
half:
If the ‘Volume
fraction’ inside the
c components mesh
tends to be blue
(Volume fraction
close to zero),
means that the
mesh quality is not
good. In that case
you should use a
smaller voxel size.
Close this view

by clicking on OK in
the voxel mesh
properties dialog.
a
b

Example: Quickstart
Solver properties and matrix solver
◆ In the ‘Numerical parameters’ dialog under ‘Advanced’ you can select the
matrix solver for your calculation:
b
For more
about the matrix
solver take a look
into the infosheet
◆ For the mechanical solution, the default solver is always the ‘Iterative ‘AdvancedSettingsS
olver_en.pdf’.
Sparse’. If there are temperatures in the simulation the ‘Pardiso Direct
Sparse’ solver should be used because it is more accurate regarding the
temperatures.
◆ For filigree, thin-walled models with large build height, it could happen that
the iterative solver does not converge. In this case both solver the ‘MUMPS
Parallel Direct’ and the ‘Pardiso Direct Sparse’ can be used to achieve
convergence and to save calculation time.

Example: Quickstart
Solver properties and simulation start
Parallelization
◆ In the ‘Numerical parameters’ dialog you can select the parallelization means that the
options. For this job use the default number of domains of 8: calculation of one
simulation is done in
parallel using
several CPU cores.
a In Simufact additive,
the default domain
decomposition
includes 8 domains
b with 1 SMP core
each (8 cores
activated in total).
◆ Run the simulation! For more detailed
information about
the parallelization
a and the
decomposition
method please look
into the infosheet
The indicators below the “Machine”,
b ‘DDMSharedMemor
“Manufacturing & optimization” and
yParallelisation_en.p
“Analysis” widgets turn green if everything
df’.
needed for a simulation start is set.
To start the
◆ Left to the ‘Start analysis’ button is the model check. There you can review simulation, every
indicator below the
warnings and error messages regarding your current model state before widgets must show
starting the analysis. a green or yellow
light!

Example: Quickstart
Queue analysis and simufact monitor
◆ The following step is optional:
◆ Under the ‘Start analysis’ button is the ‘Queue analysis’ button. Left click on
queue analysis will open the Simufact Monitor. Here you can start multiple
analysis one by one.
For more
about the queue
analysis in Simufact
a Monitor please have
a look into the
infosheet
‘JobMonitor_en.pdf’.
Example: Quickstart
Postprocessing – Basics in Simufact Additive
After starting a
simulation and if
◆ Your result view should look similar to the figure below: Simufact Additive
finds results, the
Process simulation results view will be
automatically opened,
completed
a and you can see the
Right mouse click on results process of the
screen to open the context simulation. Refreshing
menu the results will be
done automatically.
By default, the first
increment and the last
increment of a
loadcase will be
shown. If you want to
Create
see the results in
cutting planes between these
increments, you must
activate ‘Show
Measure intermediate results’
distances on part
c
(c).
Query simulation
You can choose
results values between surface and
voxel results. The
solver calculates the
output results for the
voxel-mesh which are
b
subsequently mapped
on the surface-mesh.
d Play animation of simulation Therefore, both
meshes need to be
sufficient fine.
Example: Quickstart
Postprocessing – Basics in Simufact Additive
◆ You can change the shown result value directly by hovering your cursor The default
over the headline of the color legend. result value is ‘Total
displacement
[mm]’. You can
a change the result
value by holding the
mouse over the
Use the legend to color legend and
change the result using the drop-down
value menu.
b
You can select a

view angle by
clicking on the axes
or their labels in the
coordinate system
or by using the
numpad:
Example: Quickstart
Postprocessing – Problem with rigid body movement
◆ Because of the rigid body movement, it is not recommended to evaluate
the total displacement if the part is cut off from the base plate. In this case,
use the shape comparison to compare the results.
z z z
It is not
recommended, to
evaluate the total
displacement when
the process consider
a cutting stage
x x x because of possible
Translation Translation Rotation
rigid body
movement which
Total displacement = 𝑥2 − 𝑥1 2 + 𝑧2 − 𝑧1 2
may lead to wrong
interpretation of the
z (x2,z2) results.
The total displacement will not be zero, in this
example, because this result value does track the
whole movement of a node. From the user's point of
view, it seems like the part has some distortions.
(x1,z1)
x In this case, we do need a result value which
Final position compares the final with the initial surface after it is
best-fit to each other. Therefore, we do have the shape
comparison in Simufact Additive.

Example: Quickstart
Postprocessing – Shape comparison
◆ To open the shape comparison, click on the Results widget then right click
on Surface results and select the Shape comparison:
Example: Quickstart
◆ First, switch to the mode ‚surface deviation‘, then click on the arrow to Do not close the
Shape comparison
proceed the best-fit alignment and activate the visualization of surface window. Once you
deviation: have closed the
shape comparison
window, you will
leave the shape
comparison mode.
You can also

a
import another
b reference geometry,
which can be done
c by right-clicking on
Reference
geometries in
Machine widget
under Additional
geometries and
selecting Import.
After doing so, it is
also possible to
select another
reference geometry
in the shape
comparison window.

Example: Quickstart
◆ Finally, we change the color legend properties to ‚Measure (3 colors)‘ and
change the upper and lower limits. Therefore, double click on the color
legend and select ‚Measure (3 colors)‘ in the color legends properties and
switch to discrete color legend:
b
c
d

Example: Quickstart
◆ To change the upper and lower limits, just double-click on the upper and
lower limit in the color legend. Change the upper limit it 0.20 mm and the
lower limit to -0.20 mm. The results view should look like figure below:
In the shape
comparison mode,
positive values
a indicate that the
calculated shape is
outside the initial /
b reference shape
where negative
values indicate that
the calculated shape
is inside the initial /
reference shape.
For further
information please
refer to the infosheet
‘ShapeComparison_
en.pdf’.
◆ After evaluation, please click on OK in the shape comparison window.

Example: Quickstart
◆ To reduce the shape deviation after your printing job, a predeformed
geometry must be used as input. This geometry can be generated by
Simufact Additive with a distortion compensation analysis. For more
information refer to the tutorial chapter Example: Distortion Compensation.
◆ The best fit method is very reliant on the quality of the input surface
meshes. Make sure, that the surface of the printed part but also the surface
of the imported reference shape is of a good quality!
◆ Bigger, localized deviations can be caused by a bad surface mesh quality.

Check your mesh for irregularities!
◆ Geometry pre-deformation leads to an improved final shape!
Tutorial
Introducing the Inherent Strain Method
Back to p.1
Introduction
◆ For an AM powder bed fusion process, not all parameters are always and
exactly known.
◆ This is in part due to a very complex process structure, with a metal
powder being melted and cooled down.
◆ But for a simulation to work, it is necessary to know all relevant
parameters within a sufficient accuracy.
◆ To approach this challenge, a comparison of simulation data vs. real
experimental data is done, called calibration.
◆ The resulting parameter for a mechanical approach is called inherent
strain.
What are the inherent strain values?
Please note that
◆ Inherent strains are process equivalent mechanical loads, which reflect the the inherent strain
material properties and process parameters. Hence, the inherent strains approach in
Simufact Additive is
“own and know” the complete history of the process. a purely mechanical
◆ They comprise all final strains except elastic strain. solution. Thus,
during the build
◆ This results in a reduction of model complexity with a high accuracy to be process, no
achieved. temperature effects
are shown or
calculated.
Material Properties Process Parameters
(Mechanical properties, Thermal (Power (Current & Voltage), Hatching The thermal
properties, Microstructure, …) strategy, Velocity, Focus diameter, …) history is included in
the inherent strains.
Therefore, you can
use material
Thermal Strains, Plastic Strains, Phase Transformation properties which
were taken at room
temperature (purely
mechanical
computation).
Calibration Inherent Strains
Please note that
the processes heat
treatment and HIP
Results: require data at
Stress, Strains, Distortion elevated
temperatures.

Experimental setup
◆ To calculate the inherent strains, you must input a Z-displacement of a
cantilever. To get this value the specimen needs to be printed and partly
cut.
Simufact
Cutting plane & Additive comes with
cutting direction a predefined
template for a
cantilever geometry.
But other
geometries can be
imported too.
For a better
validation of the
displacement,
◆ Measure the observed maximum Z-displacement after cutting. This is the multiple cantilevers
can be printed, and
input value for Simufact Additive. the mean can be
◆ For every combination of material and process parameters you have determined to
capture process
to calibrate again with a new input of the target Z-displacement and scatter.
therefore print new specimens.
Experimental setup
◆ In the simulation, the elements in the cutting plane will get deactivated.
Make sure to
◆ The cut in the real manufactured part usually differs in its dimensions. keep the time
between cutting and
measuring short.
The bent cantilevers
◆ Nevertheless, a realistic simulation can be performed, if the height of the must not be bend
section above the cut, that bends upwards, is identical for simulation and back during storing
real manufacturing. or transportation. So
make sure that they
are free of any
external load. If the
timeframe between
cutting and
measuring is too
long, micro scale
effects like aging,
creep or stress
relaxation might
alter the deflection.
Isotropic and orthotropic inherent strains
◆ One major distinction in the calibration procedure is between isotropic and
orthotropic calibration.
◆ In an isotropic calibration, the inherent strains in X-direction are set equal
to the strains in Y-direction ( 𝜀𝑥𝑥 = 𝜀𝑦𝑦 ) in contrast to an orthotropic
calibration, where 𝜀𝑥𝑥 ≠ 𝜀𝑦𝑦 . Therefore, Simufact Additive needs two Z-
deformations as input values for an orthotropic calibration.
◆ The minimum requirements for manufacturing of cantilevers are one for an In Simufact
isotropic or one in X- and one in Y-direction for an orthotropic calibration. Additive, always
model only one
◆ We recommend to print multiple cantilevers in each direction and use the cantilever in each
mean value for every direction as input for Simufact Additive. direction and input a
mean Z-
displacement.
Isotropic Setup Orthotropic Setup
Isotropic and orthotropic inherent strains
◆ Orthotropic conditions are present when two perpendicular specimen are
printed, and the Z-displacements are significantly different.
We recommend to print at least one X- and one Y-cantilever to check for
orthotropy. According to experience, an orthotropic behavior is present in
most cases, despite the hatching strategy and the layer wise rotation.
◆ The calibration tries to find a solution which meets both Z-displacement
target values. Because the Z-
deformations are
dependent on both
𝜀𝑥𝑥 and 𝜀𝑦𝑦 , the
calibration of the X-
and Y-oriented
cantilevers needs to
be performed in one
process so that the
results are coupled.
The input for Simufact Additive
◆ To begin with the calibration, Simufact Additive needs to use some starting A detailed step
by step calibration
values for the inherent strains. tutorial is shown in
◆ After the first iteration, the resulting Z-displacement gets compared to the the tutorial chapter
‘Calibration -
target value and a new set of inherent strains gets assigned. Mechanical’
◆ If your input differs to much from the exact solution, the calibration does not
This dialog
always converge within a reasonable number of iterations to a solution opens by double-
within the given acceptable deviation. clicking on the build
stage in the
◆ Therefore, it is advised to enter realistic inherent strain starting values ‘Manufacturing &
before starting the calibration. optimization’ widget.
Inherent strains
are in most cases
negative since the
thermal shrinkage
has the predominant
impact on them.
If a calibration
fails to converge,
you can run a
second one with
better starting
values. To get more
realistic values the
results of the first
one can be
considered.

◆ The hatch type is purely informational and not necessary for a simulation.
◆ The cantilevers are usually printed with layer wise rotation. If this option is
checked in the calibration, the input for the rotation parameters in following
simulations is deactivated.
◆ When the current model setup differs from the default one, a message
appears at the bottom of the dialog.
◆ By clicking on ‘Update cantilevers’, the model setup is changed to the
default isotropic or orthotropic setup, depending on what you have selected
The cantilevers
for ‘Strain type’.
must be printed with
the same
parameters as the
manufactured part.
◆ You can enter the measured Z-displacement as your target value.
Make sure the

◆ The acceptable deviation describes the quality of the conformance between position of the
the simulation and experimental results. measuring point is
identical for
simulation and
◆ It is also possible to define the X-, Y- or total displacement, although for the experiment.
cantilevers it is recommended to enter the Z-displacement.
Multiple
measuring points for
one cantilever are
also possible.
If there is no
voxel node
positioned at the
measuring points
coordinates, it is
projected onto the
nearest node.
Store results in your database for future simulation
◆ In Simufact Additive you can monitor the progress of the calibration
process in the ‘Calibration results’ dialog as it is performed.
◆ There, a result graph and all relevant parameters are displayed. For a
detailed description refer to the dialogs infosheet.
◆ If the calibration was successful, you can store the resulting inherent strain
set to your database. For all subsequent simulations with this specific
material and process parameters the calibrated inherent strains can then
simply be loaded into your process setup.
Tips for meshing and placement of cantilevers
◆ Especially for a calibration, the voxel-mesh should display the geometry as
exact as possible. That’s why there are some tips for a successful
calibration.
▪ Suitable voxel sizes for the default cantilever geometry are 1 mm, 0,5
mm etc., so all features get meshed with a volume fraction of 1.
▪ The cantilevers should always be oriented in X- and Y-direction
because the voxel mesh is always oriented this way.
Due to element
▪ When changing the position of multiple cantilevers to each other, the size dependent
translations should always be by full millimeters and rotations should strains, it is
only be done around edges to make sure the geometry and the voxel recommended to
use a voxel size of
edges stay congruent. the same order for
calibration and
simulation.
Voxels are congruent to geometry Voxels are not congruent to
edges geometry edges

Spatially varying strains - Outlook
◆ For all previous slides of this chapter, a uniform strain value for the whole
build space in X- and/or Y-direction was assumed.
◆ What if the strains are dependent from the position on the base plate?
◆ In reality, the conditions in the build space are not ideally homogenous.
Some reasons are:
➢ Shielding gas flow
➢ Multiple laser zones
➢ Deformation of the base plate
◆ To depict this behavior, Simufact Additive provides the option to calibrate

distributed strains. This is discussed in the chapter ‘Spatial distributed
calibration - Mechanical’
Tutorial
Example: Mechanical Simulation
Back to p.1
Introduction
◆ In the Quickstart chapter, we already set up a mechanical simulation
◆ But this was done without a calibration of the inherent strain values
◆ In this chapter we set up the complete workflow, including a calibration
and a following manufacturing simulation of the same aircraft component,
to achieve quantitatively accurate results You can find the
calibration from this
chapter in our
Demos explorer
under ‘Calibration –
Mechanical’.
The simulation
of the aircraft
component with
calibrated inherent
strains is included in
the Aircraft
component demo.
Experimental data
◆ Before we can start with the calibration in Simufact Additive, we need
experimental data.
◆ For this example, we use: Following is a
▪ Material: AlSi10Mg powder step-by-step tutorial
of an orthotropic
▪ Z-distortions: mechanical
➢ 0 degreed cantilever: 3.09 mm calibration. For
➢ 90 degreed cantilever: 2.01 mm → Apparently the assumption of isotropy some background
that we made in the Quickstart chapter was not correct → Orthotropic knowledge please
calibration due to two distinct different Z-deformations has to be done refer to the previous
chapter.
▪ Cutting height: 3 mm
It is
recommended to
print at least two
cantilevers for each
orientation and
calculate the mean
value to consider the
experimental
◆ With these data we can go into the calibration in Simufact Additive. tolerances.
Afterwards we will implement the calibration into the aircraft component we
created in the chapter “Example: Quickstart”.

Creating a new project for the calibration
◆ Create a new project, name it appropriately and select the simulation type
‘Calibration’ in the process properties:
Once Calibration
is selected and after
d confirming with OK,
the process chain
will be set to the
default calibration
process chain which
contains the build
b and the cutting
stages.
e

View of the calibration model
◆ Selecting the ‘Calibration‘ process type calls a template where the
geometry and the cutting information are already predefined for the
cantilever.
The default
setup is an
orthotropic
calibration. To switch
to an isotropic setup,
see the previous
tutorial chapter. To
switch to a spatial
distributed setup,
see the next tutorial
chapter.
Besides the
default cantilever
geometry, user-
defined geometries
can be used for a
calibration too.
Calibration geometries
are already pre-defined

Selecting a material
◆ Open the ‘Machine’ widget and double click the ‘Material’ entry or right-click
and select ‘Library’:
a
▪ For this tutorial, please select
‘AlSi10Mg_powder’ and confirm with OK. For every
combination of
b material properties
and set of process
parameters you
must rerun the
calibration to
calibrate the
c inherent strain
values.
d

Selecting a material
◆ For a mechanical job, the baseplate deformation is optional
◆ For the calibration, it is important that you choose the right baseplate
behavior, since the displacements that you will define as target values will
or will not include the baseplate deformation
◆ If you measure your Z-displacement against the baseplate, deactivate the
baseplate deformation
◆ If you measure the Z-displacement against a fixed point, activate the
baseplate deformation
◆ For this example, we will consider the baseplate deformation → Choose
AlSi10Mg_baseplate as baseplate material
Measuring points
◆ For the calibration, we need so called measuring points for each part which
track the distortion after cutting the specimen.
If you use the
◆ You can view and change them in the model view once you have opened default cantilever
the Build dialog and switched to the ‘Calibration parameters’ entry. geometry, a
measuring point is
automatically
a generated at the top
c front of the
Measuring point cantilever. For user-
coordinates b defined geometries
you can add
measuring points
with the green plus
symbol and define
their coordinates.
During the
simulation, the
measuring points
will be projected
onto the nearest
voxel node.
Measuring points
◆ Define the Max. target values of the measuring points from experimental
data. In this example the following experimental data needs to be adapted:
▪ 0° cantilever: 3.09 mm
For each
▪ 90° cantilever: 2.01 mm specimen, at least
one measuring point
is needed. If a
measuring point is
missing, the plus
icon will be marked
orange and the
dialog cannot be
confirmed with OK.
Usually, the
strains in Z-direction
don’t have an impact
on the bending of
the cantilever and
don’t need to be
calibrated.
◆ Leave the other parameters as default and go to the sub-menu Build
parameters where we define the parameters of the inherent strains.

Defining build properties
◆ In the ‘Build parameters’ section, the build parameters and calibration setup
can be defined. For more information, please refer to the previous tutorial
chapter or to the infosheet linked in the dialog.
◆ For this example, we leave all parameters on their default values.
When you
already have some
experience with the
calibration, you can
also adjust the
starting values
based upon the Z-
displacement target
values to achieve a
faster calibration.
◆ The inherent strain values which are defined in ‘Build parameters’ are the
starting points for the calibration. Please note that unrealistic values might
lead to very long optimization durations or to no convergence at all.

Create the voxel mesh
◆ Click on the analysis widget and double-click on ‘Voxel mesh’ to mesh the
parts with the default settings: It is
recommended to
use a voxel size of 1
mm, 0.5 mm etc. for
the calibration
process with the
a default cantilever.
b This results in a high
volume fraction and
hence a more
precise calculation.
The voxel size

for the calibration
and following
simulation should be
of the same order. If
necessary multiple
calibrations with
variable voxel sizes
could be a solution.
d

Cutting stage
◆ For the predefined cantilevers, the cutting stage is predefined and doesn’t
need to be changed.
◆ If you use a user-defined geometry or change the position of the default
cantilevers on the base plate, you need to add a cutting stage for every
specimen manually.
◆ You can add stages in the process properties dialog.
◆ Here you can add an arbitrary amount of cutting stages and confirm by
clicking on OK.

Cutting stage
◆ Once you have defined a cutting stage, open its properties and switch to
‘Arbitrary cutting’ mode, where various parameters of the cut can be
defined.
◆ In our examples the manufactured cantilever were cut 3 mm above the
base plate.
◆ In the simulation, the elements in the cutting plane will get deactivated.
◆ To get realistic results, it is important that the height of the section above For a partial cut
like in calibrations,
the cut, that bends upwards, is comparable in simulation and experiment. the option cut free
◆ Therefore, you can leave the predefined cutting height of 2,5 mm from base plate
must be disabled.
unchanged, which will deactivate the elements in the third element layer.
Instead of a
constant height you
can define a height
profile with a table.
Starting the calibration
◆ Before starting the calibration, or a simulation in general, you should check
the parallelization settings in the ‘Numerical parameters’ dialog.
◆ Because this model only has 56.000 elements, we will use 4 domains and
2 cores per domain.
◆ Always make sure that your hardware and licenses are sufficient for the
defined parallelization settings. The total amount
of elements is
c displayed in the
voxel mesh dialog.
For further
b
recommendations
regarding the
aa parallelization,
please refer to the
infosheet linked in
the dialog.
◆ Now, the calibration is ready to start. Click on the green arrow on the top
right.

Viewing results of the calibration
◆ Open the ‘Calibration results’ to see the results of each calibration step. For
each step, the deviation from the desired deflection is plotted for each
orientation of the cantilevers. The calibration
process runs
▪ To save the calibration results, you can multiple simulations
give them a descriptive name and add to calculate the
a ‘Inherent
them to the library with the ‘+’ button strains’
that correlate Z-
(steps c and d). displacement results
b
with test build data.
The calibration
c algorithm uses a
Newton-based
d optimization to reach
the target values by
varying the resulting
values.
Postprocessing
◆ The Z-displacement of the cantilevers is automatically measured at the
center of the top edge. Only the result of the final calibration step is shown:
The results
output ‘Z-
displacement’ is
measured at the
measuring points
during the
a
calibration.
d
c The ‘Query
results’ tool allows
you to measure the
currently selected
results output of any
point on the
b geometry which will
be displayed in a
separate dialog.
◆ To manually measure use the ‘Query‘ tool.

Using the calibrated inherent strains in Quickstart
◆ We will load the saved calibration into the ‘Example: Quickstart’ simulation
we built.
◆ Open the ‘Quickstart’ project and copy the process without results.
◆ Rename the process into a more understandable name, for example

‘’Aircraft-Component-Calibrated’’. Now it should look like this:
◆ Once the calibrated inherent strain values are saved to the library, all
further simulations can use these calibrated inherent strain values.
Therefore, go to the build properties dialog and select the calibrated
inherent strain values from your user library:
Not only the
inherent strains
are saved in the
a database entry,
but also all build
b c parameters.
d
To check if the
correct
parameters have
been taken over,
you can compare
the new inherent
strains with the
e calibration results
you obtained
before.
◆ Afterwards please be sure to change the voxel size to 1.0mm so that it
matches with the corresponding calibration.
a
b Since the
inherent strains are
element size
dependent, we
recommend to use
same element sizes
between calibration
and manufacturing
simulation.
◆ Now you can run the simulation and compare both results.

Postprocessing: Comparing the results
◆ In Simufact Additive you can open two windows for two different processes
to get a better overview of the differences. To do this, please right-click on
the background and select the option “Open new result window”.
The feature
“Open new result
window” is only
available for results
and not during
preprocessing.
◆ A window with the selected process will pop out. Now select the process
without the calibration you created first in the main window and tile the two
windows next to each other for a better visibility.
Postprocessing: Comparing the results
We recommend
to perform a
calibration before
starting your
Calibrated simulation Non-calibrated simulation simulation so you
can get the most
realistic results.
◆ You can observe a highly increase in the total displacement after the use of
the calibrated inherent strains, especially on the thin side of the part.
Tutorial
Spatial Distributed Calibration - Mechanical
Back to p.1
Spatial Distributed Calibration
Introduction
◆ Calibrating the Z-distortions only in the center of the baseplate for the
whole workspace may be a simplification for some cases.
◆ There can be several influences on spatially distributed strains such as:
▪ Shielding gas flow
▪ Multiple laser zones
Spatial
▪ Angle of incidence of the laser distributed
▪ Distributed temperature field in the baseplate calibrations require
more computation
time compared to a
uniform calibration
and should therefore
only be performed if
spatially varying
strains have been
verified through
experimental results.
*) Schniedenharn, M.; Schleifenbaum, J.H.: On the Correlation of the
Shielding Gas Flow in L-PBF Machines with Part Density, DDMC 2018,
Berlin

Implementation in Simufact Additive
◆ For an automatic spatial calibration process, split your workspace into
multiple sectors.
The specimen
dimensions may
limit the number of
sectors. We don’t
recommend to
downscale the
cantilever geometry
so that the base
◆ The inherent strains will be calculated in the center of each sector. Between plate can be
the centers, strains are interpolated. In the areas between the base plates partitioned into more
borders and the sector centers, the inherent strains will be kept constant. sectors.
◆ The more sectors are present, the better the spatial distributed resolution, A spatial
but also the calibration effort increases. distributed
calibration is only
possibly for a
If you haven’t yet, you should first read the chapters ‘Introducing the calibration of the
inherent strains →
Inherent Strain Method’ and ‘Example: Calibration - Mechanical’ since they Only for mechanical
describe the inherent strains concept and give some general advice simulation
regarding the calibration.

Modelling
◆ The setup of the cantilevers is mostly automated and only some relevant The size of the
sectors don’t need to
parameters need to be entered. be identical, but their
◆ In the build parameter dialog, choose ‘Distributed’ setup. centers must align in
X- and Y-direction.
◆ With clicking on the green plus symbol, additional sectors can be added
and their center coordinates and starting values can be defined by It is also possible
to define only one row
double-clicking into the correspondent fields. in X- and one in Y-
◆ While this dialog is open, the sector centers and starting values are direction. By clicking
on the wizard button,
visualized in the model view. the table will be filled
with the missing
◆ Clicking on ‘Update cantilevers’ will delete the current geometries and place sector definitions
the default cantilevers in each sector. automatically.
An example setup
of a distributed
orthotropic calibration
is included in our
Demos explorer
Switch to the
matrix representation
for a better
visualization of your
sectors

Modelling
◆ After placing a cantilever in each sector, one measuring point gets
automatically assigned to each cantilever.
◆ In the calibration parameters dialog, you then can define the Z-deformation
of each cantilever.
The automated
setup is only
available for the
default cantilever
geometry. If you
want to use a user-
defined geometry,
the specimen need
to be positioned
manually. Also, the
measuring points
and cutting stages
need to be defined
manually.
◆ Also, a cutting stage gets assigned to each cantilever with the default
cutting plane settings.

Results
◆ The result dialog for a distributed calibration depicts graphs for each
segment/ sector and one with all segments.
◆ Each sector gets calibrated on its own and afterwards one validation
calibration is performed with all cantilevers.
A more detailed
description for this
dialog is available in
the previous tutorial
chapter or in the
dialogs infosheet.
Further tips
◆ While for the simulation all cantilevers are modelled on one baseplate, this
doesn’t have to be the case for the real printing setup, where the
cantilevers can be divided into multiple printing jobs.
◆ If only one sector doesn’t converge, it might be less time consuming to

calibrate only this sector again with uniform settings and different starting
values. The influence of neighboring cantilevers on a deformable baseplate
is typically very small.
◆ For an orthotropic calibration, the X- and the Y-oriented cantilevers always

must be modelled on the same baseplate in the simulation, even if one
baseplate was printed with only X-cantilevers and one with only Y-
cantilevers.
Summary mechanical calibration
◆ The following figure presents all existing inherent strain setups which can
be used in Simufact Additive:
Uniform Distributed
exx exx e13 e23 e33
= =
e e12 e22 e32
eyy eyy
Isotropic
e11 e21 e31
exx exx e13 e23 e33

≠ ≠
e12 e22 e32
Orthotropic
eyy e eyy
e11 e21 e31
Special case: Dual laser zones
◆ If the following setup exists, some further manual adjustments should be
taken
◆ The setup is a multiple laser machine, where each laser only operates in its
own laser zone
◆ Then there are typically dual laser zones between the single laser zones to
make sure that these areas get processed properly
Dual Laser Zone 1/2 Dual Laser Zone 2/3
Single Laser Zone 1 Single Laser Zone 2 Single Laser Zone 3
◆ The inherent strains inside the dual laser zones may differ significantly from
the single laser zones, but inside each zone they may be nearly constant in This workaround
X-direction is only necessary
if a part is printed
◆ That’s why the resultant table of the calibrated sectors can’t be used as it in these dual laser
is, since the strains between the centers of the single and dual laser zones zones
will get interpolated
The dual laser
◆ How to approach this setup:
zones are often
▪ In X-direction, every single and dual laser zone is one sector small and don‘t
provide enough
▪ In Y-direction the number of sectors must be defined based on the space for a X-
base plate dimension and a Y-oriented
cantilever. During
▪ Calibrate in the sectors center like described in the previous slides printing, fit your
cantilevers as
good as possible
in these zones.
Ideally, you print
one plate with
only X-cantilevers
and one with only
Y-cantilevers

◆ When the calibration finished, define the X-coordinates on the sectors
borders in the build properties dialog of a new process
◆ Assign these border points the strain values of their sector. This way, the
inherent strains in each sector are kept constant in X-direction and in
Y-direction there is still an interpolation
𝜀𝑆1 𝜀𝐷1/2 𝜀𝑆2 𝜀𝐷2/3
𝜀𝑆3
After the
coordinates and
Y1-sectors their strain values
are defined once in
the GUI, they can be
Y2-sectors exported as .csv and
reimported for
subsequent
Y3-sectors simulations
Inherent strain value ε
Y1-sectors
Y2-sectors
Y3-sectors
X-direction

Tutorial
Introducing the Thermal Cycle Method
Back to p.1
Introduction
◆ When choosing the thermomechanical analysis approach, Simufact
Additive simulates the deformation based on the temperature
◆ To get usable simulation times, the thermal and thermomechanical
approach make use of some simplifications
◆ Three simplifications are made: The inherent
strains do not apply
▪ One element layer includes multiple real powder layers for thermo and
▪ All elements in one layer get melted at once thermomechanical
simulations
▪ After the melting, a secondary energy input takes place
◆ Because of these points, also the thermal and thermomechanical This chapter
processes have to be calibrated provides some
background
knowledge. In the
next tutorial chapter,
a typical calibration
setup is explained
step by step
Moving heat source model
◆ The most realistic simulation would be a moving heat source, like it is done
in Simufact Welding
◆ A point gets melted when the laser moves over it, cools down when the
laser moves away and reheats when the laser moves along adjacent
trajectories
Temperature
Measuring Point Measuring Point
◆ This approach is not suitable for the manufacturing

simulation of a whole part, since it results in too
high simulation times!
Time
◆ Instead, we make use of a simplified Thermal Cycle approach

The thermal cycle method
◆ The energy input gets divided into two fractions
◆ The primary fraction melts the powder, which results in reaching the peak
temperature
◆ The secundary fraction compensates for the
heating/cooling after the material was melted In reality, the
exposure time would
◆ This results in a simplified thermal cycle be much smaller
Temperature
than displayed here
Because some
activation energy is
needed to melt the
powder, the peak
temperature should
be 1,2 .. 1,5 times
the melting
temperature
Time
◆ The percentage portion of the primary fraction is described by the
Exposure Energy Fraction (EEF) that must be calibrated with the peak
temperature that should be reached in a thermal simulation

Volumetric expansion factor (VEF)
◆ For a thermomechanical simulation there is a second parameter beside the
EEF, that needs to be calibrated
◆ It’s called volumetric expansion factor (VEF)
◆ The VEF scales the thermal strains. This is necessary because in the
simulation multiple real powder layers are comprised in one voxel layer.
Typically, this results in an overestimation of the thermal strains and hence
The calibration of
the VEF is smaller than one for usual applications the VEF can be
done isotropic or
anisotropic
◆ The calibration process is like the mechanical, inherent strain calibration,
where a Z-displacement is the target value. The volumetric expansion
factor is varied until the entered Z-displacement is reached
◆ The input of a valid EEF is needed, therefore a thermal calibration is

preceding the calibration of the VEF
Experimental setup
◆ The geometry to be manufactured can be the same cantilever as for the
inherent strains
◆ Therefore, the maximum Z-displacement needed for the calibration of the
VEF is measured in the same way In the chapter
Introducing the
◆ The measuring point for the peak temperature is usually placed inside the
inherent strains, the
parts volume experimental
acquisition of the Z-
Measured point of max. Z-
displacement is
displacement during the
explained
process
Measured point of peak For every

temperature during the process combination of
material properties
and process
parameters you
have to rerun the
calibration for the
Cutting plane & EEF and VEF
cutting direction values
◆ In Simufact Additive you can enter the peak temperature or the measured A detailed step
Z-displacement into the ‘Calibration parameters dialog’ by step thermal and
thermomechanical
◆ The acceptable deviation describes the quality of the conformance between calibration tutorial is
the simulation and experimental results shown in the tutorial
chapter Calibration –
◆ For the thermal calibration simulate only one cantilever. For the Thermal &
thermomechanical calibration, place either one (isotropic) or two cantilevers Thermomechanical
(anisotropic)
Make sure the
position of the
measuring point is
identical for
Thermal calibration simulation and
experiment
If there is no
voxel node
positioned at the
measuring points
coordinates, it is
Thermomechanical calibration projected onto the
nearest node
◆ Just like for the inherent strains calibration, the starting values for thermal
and thermomechanical calibrations are important too. The starting EEF can
be estimated according to your settings, or an arbitrary value can be
Make sure that
entered manually the Efficiency, also
◆ Also make sure every other value in the build properties dialog meets the called Absorptivity, is
defined properly.
conditions of the real-life process as precise as possible This value is not
only dependent on
Thermomechanical the material but also
on the process
settings
Thermal For a
thermomechanical
calibration, a user
library entry of a
preceding thermal
calibration can be
loaded. This does
not only define the
EEF, but also sets
the other process
settings according to
the thermal setup
Starting values

Tutorial
Example: Thermomechanical Simulation
Back to p.1
Experimental data
◆ As explained in the previous chapter, the thermomechanical simulation also
needs to be calibrated, just like the mechanical simulation.
This chapter is a
◆ Before we can start with the calibration, we need experimental data as well. step by step tutorial
◆ For this example we use: of a thermal and
thermomechanical
▪ Material: TiAl6V4 powder calibration. For
▪ Peak temperature: 2400 °C some background
knowledge please
▪ Measured z distortion in x: 2.01 mm refer to the previous
chapter.
▪ Measured z distortion in y: 1.95 mm
▪ Cutting height: 2.9 mm It is
recommended to
print at least two
cantilevers in each
orientation to
consider the
experimental
tolerances. If you do
so, enter only one
averaged value for
◆ With these data we can go into the first thermal calibration in Simufact the simulation.
Additive. Afterwards we will implement the thermal and thermomechanical
calibrations into a bike part process.

Creating a new project for the thermal calibration
◆ Create a new project, name it appropriately, select the ‘Thermal’ approach
and the simulation type ‘Calibration’ in the process properties:
d
For the thermal
e approach only the
build stage is
available.
f

View of the thermal calibration model
geometry is already predefined for one cantilever.
Besides the
default cantilever
geometry, user-
defined geometries
can be used for a
calibration too.
Rename the process
◆ Because the thermomechanical calibration setup consists of two
calibrations, we rename the process first to distinguish the two processes
later. Therefore, hover the mouse over the process widget, right-click on
the process and select rename:
◆ Rename the process to ‘Thermal‘.

a
b
c
Selecting a powder material
◆ Open the ‘Machine’ widget and double-click the ‘Material’ entry or right-click
For every
a combination of
material properties
and set of process
▪ For this tutorial please select parameters you
b ‘TiAl6V4_powder’ and confirm with OK. have to rerun the
calibration to
calibrate the
exposure energy
fraction as well as
the volumetric
expansion factor
values.
Note how the

filter is this time set
c to ‘Area of
application: Powder’.
d

Selecting a base plate material
◆ Since the base plate deformation is activated for thermal and
thermomechanical analysis automatically, we need to define the base plate
material. Therefore, click on the machine widget and double-click on Base
plate:
▪ For this tutorial please select
‘TiAl6V4_baseplate’ and confirm with OK.
a
Calibration parameters
◆ For the calibration, we need so called measuring points which track the
temperature of the specimens.
◆ Click on the ‘Manufacturing & optimization’ widget and open the Build
properties with a double-click:
Calibration parameters
◆ The measuring point for the temperature should be in the middle of the Part
and not on the edge. Therefore we change the coordinates according to the
figure below. We change our target temperature too.
As you change
the parameters, the
measuring point
displayed in the
model view will be
updated.
The program will

try to calibrate the
target temperature
at this measuring
point by searching
for a suitable value
for the exposure
energy fraction.
Set up the build parameters
◆ Next, go to the sub-menu ‘Build parameters‘ and select the predefined build
parameters for TiAl6V4-200W from the library and change the efficiency to
60 %. Also select the library entries for the thermal, post build and
advanced thermal parameters (if available):
The efficiency,
also called,
b absorption rate, is
a dependent on
d material parameters
e and process
f parameters like
c wavelength or laser
speed. For an
accurate calibration
and simulation
please make sure to
set a realistic value.
◆ Click on the analysis widget and double click on Voxel mesh to create the
It is
mesh for the part and base plate. Chose the settings from the picture recommended to
below: use the voxel size
from the calibration
in the process
simulation as well. If
necessary, multiple
calibrations with
Due to the
number of voxels
you can set the
‘Number of domains’
to 1 and the
‘Number of cores’ for
SMP to a value
based on your
available cores
These settings are
accessible in the
‘Numerical
◆ After creating the voxel mesh, the thermal calibration is ready to start. For
parameters’ dialog.
this, click on the green arrow. You can ignore the following warning about
missing support structures.

Viewing results of the thermal calibration
each step, the deviation from the desired target temperature is plotted for
each measuring point.
The thermal
a calibration process
runs multiple
simulations to
calculate the
b ‘exposure energy
fraction’ which
correlates
temperature results
with test build data.
◆ Write down the value for the exposure energy fraction of 21.6004 % or add Newton-based
optimization method
the calculated value to your library by clicking on the green plus symbol. is used in the
◆ With this value, we now go into the thermomechanical calibration which will calibration.
be shown on the next slides.
Creating a new project for the thermomechanical calibration
◆ Create a new process, select the ‘thermomechanical’ approach and the

simulation type ‘Calibration’ in the process properties:
a
View of the thermal calibration model
geometries are already predefined for two cantilever.
Besides the
default cantilever
geometry, user-
defined geometries
can be used for a
calibration too.
Rename the process
◆ Because the thermomechanical calibration setup consists of two
calibrations, we rename the second process. Therefore, hover the mouse
over the process widget, right-click on the process and select rename:
◆ Rename the process to

‘Thermomechanical‘.
a
b
c
Selecting a powder material
◆ Open the ‘Machine’ widget and double-click the ‘Material’ entry or right-click

b ‘TiAl6V4_powder’ and confirm with OK.
d

Selecting a base plate material
◆ Since the base plate deformation is activated for thermal and
thermomechanical analysis automatically, we need to define the base plate
material. Therefore, click on the machine widget and double-click on Base
plate:
‘TiAl6V4_baseplate’ and confirm with OK.
a
◆ For the calibration, we need so called measuring points which track the Z
distortion of the specimens after cutting. You can also track another
calibration value e. g. X or Y displacement.
◆ Click on the ‘Manufacturing & optimization’ widget and open the Build
properties with a double-click:
a
b c
You can calibrate
the volumetric
expansion factor Z by
checking its box.
◆ Define the max. target for
both parts :
▪ z_max target1: 2.01 mm
▪ z_max target2: 1.95 mm
◆ Next, go to the sub-menu ‘Build parameters‘ and select the predefined build
parameters for TiAl6V4-200W from the library and change the efficiency to
60 %. Also select the library entries for the thermal, post build and
advanced thermal parameters (if available):
The efficiency,
also called,
b absorption rate, is
a dependent on
d material parameters
e and process
f parameters like
c wavelength or laser
speed. For an
accurate calibration
and simulation
please make sure to
set a realistic value.
◆ Next, go to the sub-menu ’Build parameters‘ and change the value for the
exposure energy fraction to the value from the first thermal calibration of
21,6004 %:
The defined
a
value for the
volumetric
expansion factor in
this dialog is used
as starting value for
b c the calibration. If you
have more detailed
knowledge about the
process you can set
it to the expected
value. For this
example we use the
default value of 0,6.
◆ Click on the analysis widget and double click on Voxel mesh to create the
It is
mesh for the part and base plate. Chose the settings from the picture recommended to
below: use the voxel size
from the calibration
in the process
simulation as well. If
necessary, multiple
calibrations with
Due to the
number of voxels
you can set the
‘Number of domains’
to 1 and the
‘Number of cores’ for
SMP to a value
based on your
available cores
These settings are
accessible in the
‘Numerical
◆ After creating the voxel mesh, the thermal calibration is ready to start. For
parameters’ dialog.
this, click on the green arrow. You can ignore the following warning about
missing support structures.

Viewing results of the thermomechanical calibration
each step, the deviation from the desired deflection is plotted for each
cantilever.
◆ Next, save the calibrated value to the library
to use it in further process simulations by
a
clicking on the green plus symbol.
◆ Give the result a more meaningful name, for
b example “Calibrated-Thermomechanical”.
Newton-based
optimization method
is used in the
calibration.
c d
Using the calibrated values in further simulations
◆ Once the calibrated exposure energy fraction (as well as the volumetric
expansion factor) values are saved to the library, all further simulations can
use these calibrated values. Therefore, go to the build properties dialog
and select the calibrated values from your library:
◆ Here you can see both calibrated values we just created.

Implementing the calibrations into a simulation
◆ In this tutorial, a bike part will be printed with TiAl6V4 powder and its
distortions and temperature field will be evaluated.
◆ At the very beginning, we start to create a simulation with the thermal
calibration to evaluate the peak temperature depending on certain machine
parameters.
◆ After this we run the more complex simulation with
the thermomechanical calibration. In this way we
can evaluate the peak temperature after a
relatively brief thermal simulation. The
thermomechanical simulation will be run with the
same parameters as in the thermal simulation.
◆ These approaches perform a thermal driven
analysis of the layer-wise generation of parts
and support structures. Thermal parameters like
power and temperatures are defined to simulate
the additive generation of them.
◆ Finally, you will learn how to analyze the results.
◆ You can find the model in the
Demos&Examples browser.

Creating a new project
◆ Start Simufact Additive
▪ You can find the shortcut on the desktop or in the start menu The section
‘Recent projects’
allows a quick
access to last 10
recent projects. You
can also delete the
quick access of
projects from this
◆ Upon starting, the following dialog opens: section. Projects not
found on the disk
▪ Select ‘New project…‘ will be marked red.
Please note that

deleting the contents
from this list does
not delete the
project from the
disk.
You can find the

infosheet button in
several dialogs. An
infosheet contains
about the dialog.

Project location and process properties
◆ Select the name and storage location of the project:
▪ Please enter the name ‘Bike-Part’. The section

▪ Select a location where the project gives you short
should be saved. information about
the object where the
mouse is positioned
on. You can find this
section in every
dialog of Simufact
Additive.
◆ Define process properties:
▪ In this dialog you can define the In some dialogs
process and analysis type. you can find the
section ‘Comment’
▪ Please select ‘Thermal’ to simulate within you can add
using the thermal approach. specific descriptions
and comments, i.e.
▪ Click ‘OK’ to create a new process process properties
with these settings. and information
about variants. The
comment is only for
information purpose.

Rename the process and import the geometry
◆ Define a process name:
▪ Switch to the
‘Processes’ widget You can also use
and enter the name the shortcut ‘F2’ to
rename a Process.
’bike-part-thermal- Therefore, please
calibration’ select the process
a b which you want to
rename and then
use the shortcut ‘F2’
to rename it.
You can only

rename processes
that do not yet have
◆ Import a ‘component / part’: results!
▪ Please click on the ‘Machine’ widget

You can access
a to display its contents. the properties dialog
▪ Left double mouse click on ‘Parts’ or either by using
b double-click, or
right mouse click and select ‘Import’. using the right
mouse click and

Selecting CAD geometry
◆ Selecting CAD data:
a The table below

shows you the
import formats which
Simufact Additive
supports:
◆ You can find the bike part component CAD-file in the following path:
▪ …\simufact\additive\<version>\examples\metal_powder_bed_fusion\
thermal_thermomechanical_build_stage\bike_part\CAD-
Data\bike_part-mm.stl

Geometry import and pre-positioning
imported. You can also do a quick pre-positioning here (e.g. center the part
to the base plate).
◆ For this .stl file the unit millimeter should be selected. The dimensions
of the build space
◆ Now center the part and set a ‘Distance to bottom’ of 15.0 mm. are displayed, too.
Therefore, you can
check if your
imported geometry
fits into the selected
machine. Further
information about
bounding boxes can
be found in the
infosheet
a ‘ManualPositioning_
en.pdf’
b
Use the
centering buttons to
place your part in
the center of the
c base plate or enter a
d position manually.

Space for
the support
structures
Part placed with a distance
to machine base plate

Creating support structures
◆ To generate supports within Simufact Additive, click on the Supports Instead of
container. Then double-click on the desired part group: creating the support
structures, you can
support geometries
a by using the option
‘Import’ when you
c right-click on a part
group.
b
Besides the
Simufact cylinder
supports it is also
◆ Please change the ‘Method’ to Simufact possible to generate
supports with a
and set the value for ‘Support radius’ to CADS Additive
d
0.25 mm and click on Generate supports to support generator.
start the support generation. While creating the
support structures
you have several
e options, e.g. the
support radius. You
can find more
about them in the
infosheet linked in
f the dialog.

◆ To select your powder material, open the ‘Machine‘ widget and double-
click on the Material entry or right-click on it and select ‘Library’:
For more
information about
b material used in
Simufact Additive,
please refer to the
tutorial chapter
c “Material for
Additive”.
◆ Select TiAl6V4_powder and confirm your choice with OK.

Base plate material selection
◆ Selecting a base plate material:
▪ For a thermal and thermomechanical
analysis, a base plate material needs to
a
be selected.
▪ Therefore, double click on ‘Base plate’
and then click on the ‘Import material
from library’ button and select
TiAl6V4_baseplate. In contrast to a
mechanical
simulation, the base
plate deformation
will always be
considered in the
thermomechanical
approach.
c
Defining ‘Build’ properties
◆ Open the ‘Manufacturing & optimization’ widget and open the Build stage:
◆ In the tab Build parameters please select

the “Calibrated-Thermal” preset from the
a
library which defines all relevant values.
You can also save or import your own build
b parameters to user library and use them for The parameters,
other simulations. which are defined
here, have a direct
◆ The Efficiency is the impact on the result
accuracy. If you
absorption rate of the material c create a process for
the first time, take
and is dependent on material g your time to define
and process parameters. realistic values for
d all parameters.
◆ It is advised to determine the
Exposure energy fraction in a
thermal calibration process.
◆ Also select the Calibrated-Thermal presets for the Thermal parameters
e
and Post build parameters the same way.
◆ Confirm with OK.

Creating the voxel mesh
◆ Double click on the ‘Voxel mesh’ entry in the ‘Analysis’ widget to open the
meshing properties:
Simufact
Additive uses
a hexahedral
elements (voxel
elements) for the
b calculation, where
all components
(part, supports and
◆ Define the ‘Voxel size’ and ‘Base plate mesh parameters’: base plate) share
common nodes. It is
recommended that
➢ Mesh type: Uniform the voxel mesh is
fine enough for
➢ Levels of coarsening: 2 results mapping.
➢ Voxel size x/y/z: 3.0 mm
The thickness of
➢ Meshing type (base plate): Adaptive the base plate can
meshing be defined in
Machine widget >
➢ Number of layers: 3 Base plate > Base
➢ Level of coarsening: 2 plate properties >
Geometry >
➢ Levels of edge voxels coarsening: 0 Thickness.
➢ Levels of fixation coarsening: 0

Error during voxel meshing
◆ You will get the following error messages, that some components could not
be meshed (the name of the supports which could not be meshed can vary
for different support generations):
Please delete
existing single
support structure
◆ At this point, we have two options to solve this error: because of very low
volume fraction
▪ 1. Reduce the element edge length of the voxel elements or… which may lead to
▪ 2. Delete these supports which could not be meshed. issues during the
simulation.
◆ It is recommended to reduce the element edge length if this error message
pops up. But for this example, we will delete the Support-32 and rerun the
meshing again. Therefore, go back to ‘Machine’ widget and delete the
‘Support-32’ as following slide shown.
Deleting single support structure
◆ Please delete the existing single support structure ‘Support-32’ which may
lead to issues during voxel meshing or during simulation as follows, the
selected support will be highlighted in the Model view:
It is also
possible to delete a
single geometry in
the model view
directly. Therefore,
View Manipulation: select the geometry
▪ A double-click on the eye which should be
deleted with a right
symbol of a single part or a mouse click and
support structure in the select ‘Delete‘.
widget will highlight the
part or support structure in If you want to
view single support
the model view and b groups, right-click on
centers the model view the group in the
onto them. c model view and
select ‘Show only’ or
Support-32 which is selected
right-click on the
group entry in the
widget and select
▪ If you click on a part or support structure in the model view, the
‘Show support
correspondent entry is selected in the widget. structure only’
▪ By holding CTRL, you can select multiple parts or supports.

Rerun voxel meshing
◆ Go back to the Analysis widget and double click on voxel mesh. Rerun the
voxel mesh with the parameters shown on the previous slides.
◆ Now, this time it should work. You can see the voxel mesh which is used for
the upcoming calculation. As you can observe, the outer voxels outrange
the actual geometry. The following slides explain this concept.
◆ The ‘Volume fraction’ is a value which describes how much volume of the
voxel element is filled by the geometry. To display the volume fraction,
double click on Voxel mesh again and activate ‘Show volume fraction’ as
below:
◆ The figure below shows the ‘Volume fraction’ of the model which is cut into
half:
If the ‘Volume
fraction’ inside the
c component’s mesh
a
is completely blue
(Volume fraction of
zero) that means
b
that the mesh quality
is not good. In that
case you should use
a smaller voxel size.
Close this view

by click on OK in the
voxel mesh
properties dialog.
Finish the model setup and simulation start
◆ In the ‘Numerical parameters’ dialog in the “Analysis” widget you can set up
the parallelization options. For this example, set the number of domains to
4 and for each domain 2 cores. The default method Recursive coordinate
bisection should be used.
You can adjust

the number of
domains and the
number of cores for
the parallelization
according to your
available cores and
◆ Run the simulation! licenses to
accelerate your
simulation.
c
d

Evaluation of peak temperature
◆ Post-processing ‘Peak temperature‘:
Please check if
the peak temperature
is higher than the
a melting temperature
and lower than the
evaporation
temperature.
b Ideally the peak
temperature is around
1.5* melting
temperature, as a
specific activation
energy is needed to
melt up the powder
completely.
Often the peak
temperature of the first
layer is lower, as the
base plate is a heat
sink (especially if it is
not pre heated).
To display the
results of every voxel
◆ Please switch to the result value ‘Peak temperature’ to evaluate. layer, enable the
‘Show
option
◆ As you can see, the peak temperature is about 2399 °C. This is a realistic intermediate results’ in
value due to the usage of the thermal calibration. the options of the
animation toolbar on
◆ Now, we are going to simulate the thermomechanical simulation. the lower right.

Creating the thermomechanical simulation
◆ Create a copy of the original process which we will edit and rerun with a
thermomechanical approach. You can also
create a new
◆ Therefore, go to the ‘Processes’ widget and right-click on the process ’01-
process. In this case
thermal-analysis’: we are using the
copy function
▪ Copy without results because only the
simulation
a configuration is
different to the initial
simulation.
b c
You can also use
the shortcut ‘F2’ to
▪ Rename the process to rename a process.
Therefore, please
’bike-part-thermomechanical- select the process
calibration’ which you want to
rename and then
use the shortcut ‘F2’
to rename.
d
e You can only
rename processes
that do not yet have
results!

Changing the process type to thermomechanical
◆ Open process properties:
◆ Do the following changes:

▪ Select ‘Thermomechanical’ as By using the
‘Simulation configuration’. copy function, the
model as well as all
▪ Add ‘Cutting’ and ‘Support process settings will
c removal’ to the process chain. be copied to the new
process.
▪ Confirm the changes by clicking
on ‘OK’.
d

◆ For this example, select the ‘Mode: Directional cutting’ and set the ‘Height’
to 10.0 mm.
◆ Set the cutting direction to ‘+X (left to right)’ and confirm with ‘OK’.
We use a cutting
height of 10 mm to
avoid cutting
through the possible
a c deformed base plate
after the printing.
b
For this tutorial
we use the mode
‘Directional
cutting‘. The mode
‘Arbitrary cutting‘
offers more refined
d
possibilities to cut
the part from the
base plate. For more
detailed information,
please refer to the
infosheet linked in
the dialog.
Visualization of the cutting

plane (direction & height)

Defining the build parameters
◆ Compared to a thermal simulation, the build dialog of a thermomechanical
simulation is extended by the VEF (volumetric expansion factor).
◆ Select the “Calibrated-Thermomechanical” preset like we showed
previously. Now all the calibrated VEF values should be imported.
Defining the advanced thermal parameters
◆ At the tab “Advanced thermal parameters”, the heat loss by radiation and
convection of the part/supports and the baseplate can be defined.
◆ Please keep the default values.
‘Emissivity’
defines the heat loss
due to radiation and
‘Heat transfer
a coefficient’ defines
the heat loss due to
b convection.
The surfaces
with radiation/
convection can be
evaluated with the
result value
‘Thermal boundary
conditions’. Please
have a look on the
Postprocessing
slides for more
detailed information.

Defining the support removal and start simulation
◆ Open the ‘Support removal’ properties and select the supports that will be
removed.
At the beginning
all support structures
will be assigned to
a c ‘Unassigned
supports’ which
means that these
supports will not be
b removed during the
simulation. By using
the buttons ( , )
you can assign or
d deselect single
support structure, or
◆ Run the simulation! all support
structures with the
buttons ( , ).
b You can also

create more than
a one support removal
stage to consider
the sequence of
support removal.

Postprocessing – Temperature distribution
◆ Please see the temperature distribution during build stage:
If the result view

is opened, the
temperature result
value will be shown
as default for the
thermal and
thermomechanical
approaches. In
contrast to that, the
total displacement is
shown for a
mechanical
simulation.
Postprocessing – Thermal boundary conditions
The result value
◆ Next, we want to have a look on the thermal boundary conditions. ‘Thermal boundary
Therefore, please hover the mouse over the color legend and select conditions’ shows
‘Thermal boundary conditions‘. surfaces with
convection and
radiation and the
adiabatic ones,
where no heat
transfer takes place.
Radiation and
convection to the
surrounding air is at
the upper surface of
the upper layer.
Currently, the
contact area
between part/
supports and
baseplate and
between baseplate
and the constrained
plane is highlighted
in red, even if there
is no convection/
radiation but heat
transfer.

Postprocessing – Total displacement
◆ Please see the total displacement of the geometry at the end of the
simulation:
◆ Because of the rigid body movement, the total displacement is not a good
measure to evaluate the result quality. Therefore, we will apply the best-fit
function and evaluate the result value ‘Surface deviation’.

Postprocessing – Problem with rigid body movement
◆ Because of the rigid body movement, it is not recommended to evaluate
the total displacement if the part is cut off from the base plate. In this case,
use the shape comparison to compare the results.
z z z
It is not
recommended, to
evaluate the total
displacement when
the process
considers a cutting
x x x stage because of
Translation Translation Rotation
possible rigid body
movement which
Total displacement = 𝑥2 − 𝑥1 2 + 𝑧2 − 𝑧1 2
may lead to wrong
interpretation of the
z (x2,z2) results.
The total displacement will not be zero, in this
example, because this result value does track the
whole movement of a node. From the users' point of
view, it seems like the part has some distortions.
(x1,z1)
x In this case, we do need a result value which
Final position compares the final with the initial surface after it is
best-fit to each other. Therefore, we do have the shape
comparison in Simufact Additive.

◆ To open the shape comparison, click on the “Results” widget then right click
on ‘Surface results’ and select the ‘Shape comparison’:
You can import
◆ First, switch to the mode ‚surface deviation‘ (a), then click on the arrow to more reference
geometries and
proceed the best-fit alignment (b) and activate the visualization of surface compare the
deviation to see the desired result (c). deviations, e.g.
result geometries
◆ Optionally, you can also display the initial shape by left mouse click on . calculated with
differently scaled
initial geometries or
computed
tomography
inspections.
a
The best fit
method is very
b reliant on the quality
c of the input surface
meshes. Make sure
that the surface of
the printed part but
also the surface of
the imported
reference shape is
of good quality!
Please refer to
the info sheet for
more information
about this dialog!

Postprocessing – Screw forces
◆ In the ‘Additional’ entry of the “Results” widget you have the possibility to evaluate the
screw forces of the base plate during the process.
◆ Clicking on the Fixations and selecting Show properties or double-clicking on it will open
a THS plot window showing the accumulated forces for each defined screw in the
process:
c
Please note that
b
the screw forces
◆ By default, all fixations are shown when here refer to the
opening the THS plot. You can show and nodal reaction
hide them by activating or deactivating forces.
the checkbox of the corresponding
fixation under Selection.
◆ By default, the total reaction forces over
time are displayed. You can choose for
x-axis between time, increment and
progress and for y-axis between the
reaction forces in X, Y and Z direction.

Tutorial
Calibration Summary
Back to p.1
Calibration Summary
Different Calibration Processes
◆ In this chapter the different calibration processes are summarized to grant
a general overview about the available process types.
◆ Note that for thermomechanical calibrations only a uniform distribution is
available.
◆ The complexity of a spatially distributed calibration depends highly on the For a detailed
number of sectors defined. description of one
specific calibration
type, please refer to
the previous tutorial
Thermal & thermomechanical chapters.
Mechanical calibrations
calibrations
For the thermal
Uniform mechanical isotropic calibration of the
exposure energy
calibration fraction, one
Uniform mechanical orthotropic Thermal & uniform isotropic cantilever on the
base plate is always
calibration thermomechanical calibration
sufficient.
Spatially distributed mechanical Thermal & uniform orthotropic
isotropic calibration thermomechanical calibration
Spatially distributed mechanical
orthotropic calibration

Calibration Summary
Input and output
Calibration/
Input Output
Manufacturing type
Mechanical Z-deformation Inherent strains
Thermal Peak temperature Exposure energy fraction
Z-deformation/
Thermomechanical Exposure energy Volumetric expansion factor
fraction
◆ The peak temperature must always be higher than the melting temperature
and lower than the evaporation temperature. Optimal values are around 1,5
times the melting temperature.
◆ Ideally, the measuring point for the Z-deformation should be at the front of
the cantilever, whereas the measuring point for the peak temperature
should be inside the volume.

Calibration Summary
What calibration process to use?
◆ The advantages of inherent strains are that they comprise many process
parameters that don’t need to be defined in the simulation. Furthermore,
the simulation time can be kept low.
◆ If you want to know the temperature distribution in the parts, a thermal or Typically,
thermomechanical approach is necessary. orthotropic
conditions are
◆ Another advantage of the thermal + thermomechanical approach is that present for most
local overheating due to the geometry can be simulated, including all processes
mechanical responses, which is not possible with the purely mechanical
When your
approach. → Depending on the case, this might result in more realistic process comes with
deformations high strains due to
phase
transformation, the
◆ It is important to chose the calibration setup best suited for your printing thermomechanical
process. For this you should check for some process characteristics. approach with phase
transformation
▪ Check for isotropic or orthotropic behavior: Is there a distinct deviation should be preferred
of the displacements between the X- and Y-oriented cantilever? over the inherent
strain approach
▪ Check for a spatial dependency of your strains: Are the cantilever
displacements dependent on their position on the baseplate?
Spatially distributed behavior can only be calibrated with the inherent strain
approach.

Calibration Summary
What calibration process to use?
Inherent strain approach Thermal/ thermomechanical

approach
Mechanical calibration Thermal calibration
Distinct orthotropic behavior? Evaluate mechanical response

too?
Yes No No Yes
Orthotropic setup Isotropic setup Distinct orthotropic

Thermal calibration
behavior?
Distinct spatial distribution?

No Yes
No Yes
Thermal + isotropic Thermal + orthotropic
thermomechanical thermomechanical
Uniform calibration Distributed calibration calibration calibration
Tutorial
Example: Distortion Compensation
Back to p.1
Introduction
◆ This example shows you how to set up an optimization to generate a
predeformed geometry.
◆ The goal is that the predeformed geometry has lower deviations to the
ideal geometry after printing.
◆ Simufact Additive offers two ways to compensate the distortion:
▪ Automatic method to achieve a max. acceptable deviation.
This tutorial
▪ Manual method with a user defined compensation factor. The discusses a
achieved deviation after printing is not known. distortion
compensation of a
Powder Bed Fusion
process. Metal
Binder Jetting is
discussed in its own
chapter.
Initial geometry Optimized geometry

Automatic Distortion Compensation - Preprocessing
◆ We will start with the model creation of the automatic method.
◆ Start Simufact Additive and create a new project.
◆ Define the process properties like in the following figure:
You can find

infosheet buttons in
several dialogs for
further information.
An infosheet
contains detailed
description about
the dialog. You can
also find some
information in the
brief description field
in most dialogs.
◆ Import the parts CAD geometry:
▪ Please select the ‘Machine’ widget to
display its contents.
a
▪ Left double mouse click on ‘Parts’ or
b right mouse click and select ‘Import’ to
start the geometry import.
◆ You can find the engine mount geometry file in the following path:
▪ …\simufact\additive\<version>\examples\distortion_compensation\CA
D-Data\engine_mount_vertical.stp

◆ In the next Dialog you can select the import options of the STEP file.
◆ Here you can select the meshing parameters of the surface mesh. Simufact
Additive use
discretized
geometries.
Therefore, a surface
mesh is always
needed.
When you have

imported the part as
CAD data, you also
have the possibility
to export the
compensated
geometry as CAD
data. Later in this
chapter it will be
explained how to do
this. This requires
e the
SF_CAD_MORPH
license feature.
◆ Click on Import with the default parameters selected.

imported. You can also do a quick first positioning here (e. g. center the Make sure to
part in the build space). system when you
◆ Activate the checkbox Positioning of geometries and click on the both import a part.
centering buttons of left and front to center the part. At last, set a distance
to bottom (distance to baseplate) of 5 mm. You can also
check if your
imported geometry
fits in the machine
dimensions.
Therefore, compare
the dimensions of
the build space and
the component’s
bounding box.
a
Use the
b centering buttons to
c place your part in
d the center of the
build space. Or
enter a position
manually.

Space for the

support structures
Part placed on
machine base plate
◆ To generate supports with Simufact Additive, click on the Supports entry in
In this tutorial,
the Machine widget. Then double click on the parts group. we will create the
◆ Switch to the Simufact method and generate the supports with default support structures
with Simufact
parameters: Additive. You can
support geometries.
a With the feature

‘Preview’ the
b surfaces where the
supports will be
created are marked
in the model view.
c
While creating
the support
structures you have
several options and
different methods.
For more detailed
information, please
click on the
infosheet button.
d

If the supports
are generated with
Simufact Additive,
they will be put into
different groups.
By right clicking
the legend and
deactivating “Group
by object type” you
can show all support
structure groups
colored individually.
Supports added
to part
◆ To select your powder material, open the ‘Machine‘ widget and double click
the Material entry or right-click on it and select ‘Import’.
For more
information about
material used in
Simufact Additive,
a please refer to the
chapter “Material for
Additive”.
For this
example, we will use
a rigid baseplate.
Therefore, the
b baseplate material
doesn’t have to be
defined.
c

◆ Activate and set up the parameters for the distortion compensation. The accepted
distortion can be
◆ Define a value of 0.05 mm as accepted distortion: specified for every
separate part, the
c
maximum number of
optimization steps is
a a global optimization
process property.
b The optimization
stops when the
distortion results are
within given
maximum distortion
◆ Activating the checkbox “Automatic export” in the Export tab allows you or when maximum
number of steps is
export the compensated geometry of the best variant automatically. reached.
If the default
Results settings are
used, all result
increments except
the last one are
deleted for all
variants that are not
A distortion compensation is not possible if a cutting through the part is the initial or the
defined in the cutting stage, since this makes the part lose its surface variant with best
results.
mesh.

◆ A compensation factor of -1 means that the geometry is pre-deformed in
the opposing direction of the surface deviation by the same amount. -0.5
would mean that it is pre-deformed by half of the amount.
▪ You can change this value if you have run similar distortion
compensation simulations with this geometry before and know the
effect of the pre-deformation with -1.
▪ If you don’t know how good the results of the compensation are, -1 is a
good starting point.
◆ If you have generated the supports in Simufact Additive, following variants

will be modelled with the same parameters automatically.
◆ If you have imported support structures, these will be distorted for following
variants, to keep the connectivity to the part.
▪ With the Interrupt between runs feature, the Simufact Additive will set
up following variants automatically, but the simulation will stop.
▪ Then you can change settings/ parameters, that will be used from
there on and continue the distortion compensation.
▪ If the distortion of your imported supports would be unexpectable, you
can exchange them with a support geometry that fits this variant better.

◆ Stay in ‘Manufacturing & optimization’ widget, open the Build properties.
◆ Please leave the default parameters:
For your own

process, you need
to calibrate your own
a build properties. For
c more information
refer to the chapter
‘Introducing the
b Inherent Strain
Method’. This will
lead to better
results.
◆ Open the ‘Support removal’ properties and select a removal of all existing
support structures.
By using the
buttons ( , ) you
can assign or
a deselect single
support structure, or
c all support
structures with the
buttons ( , ).
b
You can also
create more than
one support removal
stage to consider
the sequence of
support removal. For
this add more
Support removal
stages in the
Process properties
dialog by double-
clicking on Stages.
d

◆ Double click the ‘Voxel mesh’ entry in the ‘Analysis’ widget to open the
meshing properties:
Powder Bed
fusion processes in
a Simufact Additive
use hexahedral
elements as part of
b a voxel mesh for the
calculation, where
all components
◆ Please change the voxel size to (part, supports and
base plate) share
1 mm: common nodes.
c
For further notes
regarding the
different meshes for
metal powder bed
fusion processes,
refer to the chapter
“Example: Aircraft
Component -
Mechanical”.
d

Automatic Distortion Compensation - Postprocessing
◆ Run the simulation!
a
b

“Manufacturing & optimization” and “Analysis”
widgets turn green or yellow if everything
To start the
simulation, every
indicator below the
widgets must show
◆ The default parallelization settings in the numerical parameters, work good a green or yellow
with the generated number of elements and can be kept. If you have less color.
licenses or available physical CPU cores, you need to/ should reduce the
used domains.
The maximum
◆ After the optimization ends successfully, the Distortion compensation distortion in this
graph refers to the
results will be shown in the Results widget: largest surface
deviation value in
terms of amount
when comparing the
a final shape of one
variant to the CAD
geometry.
b You can also

check the surface
deviation as a result
value manually. This
◆ Furthermore, more details about the reached max. distortion per iteration is shown on
can be seen in tab Table. following slides.
◆ As you can see, the optimization The maximum

needed just 2 variants to reach the distortion can’t get
reduced indefinitely.
given maximum distortion of Depending on the
0.05 mm. The simulated variants geometry, there is a
lowest value at
can be found in the Processes which the graph
would have a
widget which is shown in following slide. constant or even
increasing course.

◆ The variants for the optimization are subordinated to the initial process:
The variants for

the automatic
Initial process distortion
Process variant-1 compensation are
Process variant-2 (optimized) set up and started
automatically.
You can select a

◆ Let's compare the results of the initial and optimized process. Make sure process by clicking
that the initial process is selected and open the result view: on it in the
Processes widget. If
you are not sure
which process is
a currently selected,
you can check the
process name in the
b process information
c field in the lower left
of the view.
◆ Open the shape comparison dialog, perform a best-fit operation (e) and
calculate the surface deviation (f):
The upper and

lower limits of the
a color legend can be
edited directly by
d double-clicking onto
either the upper or
b e lower limit. The
c distribution between
f the upper and lower
limits is then
automatically
adjusted.
◆ Adjust the color legend as follows and set the upper and lower bound to
±0.15 mm. The Surface
deviation result
b value can only be
displayed while this
c e shape comparison
a dialog is open.
f
d

◆ The result of the initial process should look similar to the figure below:
The result value

‘Surface deviation’
displays the
deviation between a
reference geometry
and the resulting
shape after the
whole process
chain. Due to
possible rigid body
movement, it is
required to use the
shape comparison
and its integrated
best-fit feature
instead of the total
displacements to
eliminate the
influence of the rigid
body movement.
◆ Do the same for the optimized process (Variant 2). Make sure that the
For the distortion
optimized process is selected and open the results view: compensation
variants, the
preselected
a reference geometry
‘Initial shape (part-
name)’ is the CAD
geometry that you
c have imported.
b
Normally you want
to get the surface
deviation to this
◆ Calculate the shape comparison again: reference.
Alternatively, you
can select ‘Initial
shape’. This is the
a compensated
geometry that was
d
used to start this
variant. The
b e deviation to this
c geometry is not of
f interest.

◆ Adjust the color legend in the same way you did for the initial process.
◆ You shouldn’t be able to see any blue or red areas:
Initial process Optimized process
When comparing
two variants, it is
crucial to use
identical color
legends.
◆ Now, that you have simulated the distortion compensation and validated Do NOT use the
the results, you will want to get the compensated geometry file for your export results
printing job. function in the
context menu of the
◆ Go to the Results widget and open the Distortion compensation results surface results. This
dialog. would export the
final geometry after
◆ There, open the Table tab and klick on the variant with the lowest maximum the process chain
distortion value. with minimal surface
deviation. But for
◆ Click on the icon on the upper right to export the compensated geometry. your printing job you
That is the geometry used to model this variant. need to input a
predeformed
geometry that will
result in this final
a shape.
c
◆ With the method shown on the previous slide, you can only export facetted
surfaces.
◆ It is also possible to export the compensated geometry as CAD data if the
following two conditions are met:
▪ The geometry you have selected for the import needs to be a CAD file.
If that’s the case, the parts name will have a (CAD) suffix.
License feature
▪ You need to have an extra license module Simufact Additive CAD SF_CAD_MORPH is
Export (License feature SF_CAD_MORPH). not part of MSCOne.
◆ Open the results view (a). Right-click on the Surface results (b) and select
The CAD export
Export compensated CAD (c). In the CAD export dialog select the variant may take some time.
with the lowest maximum distortion (d, e): The analytical
functions describing
the geometry get
morphed based on
a the distortions.
d
e
b
c

Manual Distortion Compensation - Preprocessing
◆ Besides the automatic distortion compensation, you can export the
resulting geometry of your initial process with a negative displacement
scale factor.
◆ With this scale factor, we can create a pre-deformed geometry, that
compensates the displacements.
◆ We refer to this as manual distortion compensation.
◆ The idea is, that we can reduce the surface deviation while only one
process needs to be simulated.
◆ Of course, this is just a guess. To validate this, a second process with this
compensated geometry would be necessary.
Since the compensation with this method happens on the basis of the
displacements and not the surface deviations possible rigid body
movements may interfere with the results. To get rid of these rigid body
movements you need to create a separate Geometry inspection process.
Please refer to the correspondent tutorial chapter for more information.
◆ The following slides show how to create this compensated geometry and a
validation simulation is performed to evaluate if this worked.
◆ To create the scaled geometry, select your initial variant from the automatic
distortion compensation, go to the Results widget, right-click on Surface
results and select Export results.
◆ In the following dialog select your part and the last result increment (100%
Support Removal). -1 is not
◆ Activate the displacement scale factor and define it as -1: necessary the best
scale factor. The
ideal factor depends
on your geometry
and process and is
b e unknown.
a f A negative value
c means that a part
will be pre-deformed
d in the opposite
direction than the
resulting distortions.
◆ To set up the validation simulation, copy your initial automatic distortion
compensation process without results:
◆ Delete the existing parts geometry and import the compensated STL
geometry that you have generated on the previous slide:
◆ Position the part like you did for the automatic distortion compensation
process. Also create the support, support removal stage and the voxel
mesh in the same way.
◆ Your model should look like in the following picture:
◆ Before starting the simulation, deactivate the automatic distortion
compensation by unchecking its checkbox:
◆ Start the simulation and wait for it to finish.
Manual Distortion Compensation - Postprocessing
◆ Now, we want to compare the deformed geometry to the CAD geometry.
◆ Because the CAD geometry isn’t included in this process yet, we need to
import the Engine Mount STP file as reference into the Additional
geometries section of the Machine widget.
◆ It will appear as additional geometry on the baseplate. You can hide it in the
view by clicking on the eye icons in the widget:
The position of
the reference isn‘t
relevant. During
shape comparison,
the result will be fit
into the reference
with the best-fit
algorithm.
◆ Open the shape comparison dialog again as we did before.
◆ Instead of the initial shape, select your STP geometry as reference body.
◆ The deformed, resulting geometry will be displayed in red and the
reference in green.
◆ With the best-fit operation, the deformed geometry will be moved into the
reference.
◆ Depending on the complexity Changing the
and the positions of these reference geometry
is only possible in
geometries, the best-fit might the Surface
not work or take long. Then deviation mode in
the Transformation
you can use the Translate or section.
the Rotate mode in the
Transformation section of this
dialog for a first manual fitting
followed by a best-fit.
◆ If you apply the same color legend settings as we have done before in this
chapter, you can see that the surface deviation could be reduced
significantly.
◆ But you can also see that the maximum value is still 0.22 mm, which is still
more than 4x higher than what we could achieve with optimized variant of
the automatic distortion compensation:
Manual distortion Automatic distortion

compensation compensation –
Initial variant
Distortion compensation for finished processes
◆ You can also start a distortion compensation from every finished ‘non-
compensated’ process by right-clicking on the process name.
◆ The distortion compensation dialog allows you to define the compensation
parameters.
◆ After clicking ‘’Ok’’ the distortion compensation will start to run with the
current process as the initial process.
Works for
powder bed fusion
and binder jetting
a processes
Summary
◆ With the distortion compensation in Simufact Additive, you can create pre-
deformed geometries that result in final shapes with low deviations
compared to your CAD geometry.
◆ After one process simulation, you can export the resulting geometry with a
scale factor of -1. This should give better results. But to quantify the
surface deviation, a second validation simulation is necessary.
You can also use the single shot mode in the dialog of the automatic
distortion compensation. This results in just one compensation step with an
automated second validation process.
◆ You can also define a maximum acceptable surface deviation value with
the automatic distortion compensation setup.
◆ Then, as many process are simulated successively, until this criterion is
met.
◆ It is unknown how many processes are necessary, but you can also limit
the number of variants:
Tutorial
Example: Support Optimization
Back to p.1
Support Optimization Introduction
◆ This example shows you how to set up a support optimization procedure
in Simufact Additive using a bearing bracket.
◆ The goal of the support optimization is to minimize the distortions after
printing while keeping the support volume as low as possible and thus
reducing costs by reducing the amount of needed material.
◆ In this example we will create a process wherein conventional support
generation is used and another process with support optimization. The This tutorial
support volumes as well as the results of processes will be compared to chapter covers the
optimization with the
each other afterward. ‘Simufact’ method.
For more
45% Reduction in information on the
support volume ‘Generative’ method
refer to the infosheet
linked in the support
optimization dialog
Standard angle-based supports Optimized support structure

The process properties and renaming the process
◆ Define process properties:
▪ In this dialog you can define

the process and analysis type.
▪ For this example we only use
the stage ‘Build’. The section
gives you short
information about
◆ Rename the process to ‘01-Non- the object where the
optimizedSupports’ mouse is positioned
on. You can find this
section in every
dialog of Simufact
Additive.
a
You can also use
F2 as shortcut to
rename the currently
selected process.
b
c
Importing the component geometry
◆ Import a ‘part’:
▪ Please select the ‘Machine’ widget to

display its contents.
a
▪ Left double mouse click on ‘Parts’ or right
b
mouse click and select ‘Import’ to start the
geometry import.
d
◆ You can find the bearing bracket geometry file in the following path:
▪ …\simufact\additive\<version>\examples\metal_powder_bed_fusion
\support_optimization\CAD-Data\bearing_bracket_horizontal-m.stl

Geometry import and positioning
◆ The following dialog shows the measurements of the part that is about to
be imported. You can also do a quick first positioning here (e. g. center the Make sure to
part in the build space). system when you
◆ Please select ‘Meter’ as unit, center the part to the base plate and set a import a part.
‘Distance to bottom’ of 10 mm:
You can also
check if your
imported geometry
fits in the machine
dimensions.
Therefore, compare
the dimensions of
e the build space and
the component’s
f bounding box.
g Use the
centering buttons to
h place your part in
the center of the
build space. Or
enter a position
manually.

Space for the

support structures
Part placed on
machine base plate
In this tutorial,
◆ To generate supports with Simufact Additive, hover your curser over the we will create the
Supports container. Then double click on the desired part group: support structures
by using the option
‘Generate supports’.
Furthermore you
a can import existing
support geometries
b by using the option
‘Import’.
With the feature

‘Preview’ the
surfaces where the
supports will be
◆ Please change the support radius to created are marked
0.45 mm. in the model view.
While creating
c the support
structures you have
e several options, e. g.
the support radius.
For more detailed
information, please
click on the
d infosheet button.

Please note that

after creating the
support structures
the model legend
will be expanded by
the amount of
support structures
which are added.
Several support
structures are
assembled to one
geometry to get a
Supports added single support
to part structure.
◆ To select your powder material open the ‘Machine‘ widget and double click
the material entry or right-click and select ‘Import’.

Setting the build properties
◆ To have access to the build properties, activate the ‘Manufacturing &
optimization’ widget and double click on ‘Build’:
▪ Please select leave the default

a parameters:
For your own
process, you need
to calibrate your own
b build properties. For
more information
c refer to the chapter
‘Introducing the
Inherent Strain
Method’. This will
lead to better
results.
meshing properties:
b
Simufact
Additive uses
hexahedral
◆ Please change the parameters for the voxel elements (voxel
meshing as shown in figure: elements) for the
c calculation, where
all components
(part, supports and
base plate) share
e common nodes.
d

Model view after the voxel meshing
◆ Now, you see the voxel mesh which is used for the upcoming calculation:
Start the simulation and its results
◆ Run the simulation! To start the
simulation, every
indicator below the
widgets must show
a a green or yellow
light!
b
Indicators below the machine, The current state

Manufacturing & optimization of the model has to
be saved before
and analysis widgets turn green starting the
if everything is set for the simulation. Thus, an
simulation start. additional dialog to
save the project will
◆ Results of the process ‚01-Non-optimizedSupports‘: pop up if the project
has not been saved
before clicking on
the green arrow to
start the simulation.
For more
information about
the result values
please check the
separate tutorial
Result values.

Total support volume of the first process
◆ To get the information about the total support volume of the first process,
go to the ‚Machine‘ widget, click on ‚Supports‘, double click on the support
group or right-click and select ‚Show properties‘:
a
c
We will keep the
b results of the first
process in mind
which will be used
for comparison with
the process where
the supports are
◆ The total volume of the supports optimized.
is 35647.5 mm3.
d
◆ Next we will copy this process

and do the support optimization.
e

Copy the first process for the support optimization
◆ To copy the process, go to the ‚Processes‘ widget, right-click on the initial
process and select Copy -> Copy without results:
Simufact
a Additive supports
more shortcuts than
F2 for renaming.
Therefore, please
c take a look into the
b corresponding
infosheet
‚KeyboardShortcuts
_en.pdf‘ to find out
shortcuts in
◆ Please rename the copied process to ‚02-SupportOptimization‘ by using the Simufact Additive.
shortcut F2 or right-click on the second process and select ‚Rename‘: The infosheets
located in following
path:
…\simufact\additive\
<version>\doc\InfoS
heets.
a
b

Activate the support optimization
◆ To activate the support optimization, go to the ‘Manufacturing &
optimization’ widget, click on ‘Optimization’ and activate ‘Support
optimization’:
a
The goal of the
support optimization
b is to minimize the
distortions after
printing while
keeping the support
volume as low as
◆ Change the Min. support radius to possible and thus
0.01 mm. For more information c reducing costs by
reducing the amount
about the parameters, please take
of needed material.
a look into the corresponding
infosheet.
meshing properties:
a
Simufact
b Additive uses
hexahedral
elements (voxel
elements) for the
calculation, where
◆ Please change the parameters for the voxel all components
meshing as shown in figure: c (part, supports and
base plate) share
common nodes. It is
recommended that
the voxel mesh is
fine enough for
results mapping.
d

Display the boundary conditions
The first iteration
will be simulated
◆ To show the boundary conditions which are used in the first iteration to
with fixed
obtain the loads for the optimized support structure generation, right-click in displacement
build space and select “Show boundary conditions -> Fixed displacements boundary condition
instead of
optimization (Build)”:
deformable
supports. These
boundary conditions
are created where
the supports would
a usually attach and
the simulation then
calculates the
occurring
b mechanical loads.
Depending on these
loads the support
structures are
calculated. If the
loads are small, no
or few supports will
be generated. In
areas where high
mechanical loads
occur, more or
bigger supports will
be generated to
counteract these.

Start the simulation and its results
a To start the
simulation, every
b indicator below the
widgets must show
Indicators below the machine, a green or yellow
Manufacturing & optimization light!
and analysis widgets turn green
if everything is set for the You can run the
simulation start. optimization by
starting the
simulation as usual.
◆ Results of the process ‚02-SupportOptimization‘: After the first
iteration is finished,
a second process
will be automatically
generated and
started with the
optimized support
structures.
Total support volume of the second process
◆ To get the information about the total support volume of the second
process, go to the ‚Machine‘ widget, hover the mouse over ‚Supports‘,
double click on the support group or right-click and select ‚Show
properties‘.
a
c Remember that
the total volume of
b the support from the
first process was
35647.5 mm3. In
following, we will
compare these
results side by side.
◆ The total volume of the supports
is 19945.6 mm3.
d
e

Comparisons of results – Total support volume
◆ On this slide, results from the first (left) and the second (right) processes
will be compared side by side:
45% Reduction in
support volume
◆ As you can see, the volume of the support structures could be reduced by
~45% (from 35647.1 mm3 to 19945.6 mm3) with the support optimization.
◆ Furthermore, the distribution of support structures have been changed.
More support structures have been generated where the loads are higher
than where the loads are lower.

Comparisons of results – Distortions
◆ On this slide, results from the first (left) and the second (right) processes
will be compared side by side:
◆ Even the maximal distortion could be reduced by ~11% (from 0.72 mm to

0.64 mm).
◆ Overall, the model has been optimized with regards to the total support
structures volume (production costs) as well as the distortions after the
build stage.
◆ The support optimization only allows a single build stage in the process
stages. The final form after cutting from baseplate, removing supports etc.,
should be validated with another simulation.

Tutorial
Cost Estimation
Back to p.1
Cost Estimation
Introduction
◆ On the following slides, the following information of the cost estimation
are shown and explained:
▪ General information
▪ Entry parameters for the cost estimation
➢ Machine hourly rate
➢ Machine fix costs per part
➢ Powder costs
▪ Orientation assistant for cost estimation
▪ Examples of cost estimation and their total displacement
Cost Estimation
General information
◆ With the option cost estimation you can estimate the costs for your printing
process.
◆ Two entry parameters have to be defined in Simufact Additive for the cost
estimation before the simulation:
▪ Machine hourly rate and the machine fix costs per part - These
parameters can be edited in the machine properties.
▪ Powder costs - This parameter can be edited in Simufact Material
database.
◆ You can use the orientation assistant to save build costs (e.g. supports)
and finally the resulting total costs.
Cost Estimation
Machine hourly rate and Machine fix costs per part
◆ To define the Machine hourly rate and the Machine fix costs per part
left-click on Machine component, then double-click on Machine.
a
b
Double-click on Machine
Cost Estimation
Machine hourly rate and Machine fix costs per part
◆ In the following dialog you can switch to Costs and enter values for the
Machine hourly rate and the Machine fix costs per part.
Cost Estimation
Powder Costs
◆ For the corresponding powder material you can define the powder costs
under Powder characterization in Simufact Material database.
Cost Estimation
Orientation assistant for cost estimation 1 (3)
◆ You can use the orientation assistant to save build costs for your printing
process. Right-click on the part and choose Orientation assistant.
Depending on
which orientation
you choose, you will
need more material
for the supports and
finally have more
costs in the Build
process. This can
lead to high total
costs for your build
process but on the
other hand to a low
displacement.
Cost Estimation
◆ In the following dialog you can select Cost data from the pop-up menu on
the right side of Build costs and enter estimation data and additional
costs to take them into account of your orientation calculation.
Cost Estimation
◆ Click on calculate and then select your preferred orientation after the
calculation by using the sphere. You can always recall the values of the
initial orientation by clicking Initial on the sphere.
If you want to
check the
orientations quickly
regarding the values
in the orientation
assistant, you can
select the entry
Current orientation
in the drop-down
menu of the
Resolution, then the
criteria will be
calculated only for
the current
orientation. You can
read out the values
for the current
orientation as usual
from the dialog.
◆ For further information, please read the corresponding infosheet
‚OrinetationAssistant_en.pdf‘ in the dialog.
Cost Estimation
Cost Estimation before Simulation
◆ If the entry parameters are defined you can view the values for the cost
estimation. Right-click on the part and choose Cost estimation.
You can view the

cost estimation
dialog after the
simulation too.
Right-click on the
part with the results
after the simulation
and choose Cost
estimation.
Cost Estimation
Cost Estimation before Simulation
◆ The following dialog opens and you can see the cost estimation with all
entry parameters and the calculated values.
If you add
addional costs like
powder loss or post
processing costs to
your cost estimation
before the
simulation, the final
total costs will be
changed again
because these
values are taken into
account.
◆ For further information, please read the corresponding infosheet
‚CostEstimation_en.pdf‘ on the bottom right.
Cost Estimation
Examples of cost estimation
◆ Here you can see examples of the total costs from the cost estimation for
an engine bracket.
Model Without orientation With orientation With orientation

assistant assistant and less assistant and more
supports supports
Costs
Cost Estimation
(without 1717.95€ 1419.63€ 2349.44€
Powder loss)
Cost Estimation
(with Powder 1745.72€ 1575.52€ 2641.59€
loss)
◆ Depending on the orientation you will receive different total costs.

Cost Estimation
Examples of cost estimation
◆ Here you can see the result value total displacement of an engine bracket
with different orientations.
With orientation assistant

and less supports
Without orientation assistant
With orientation assistant
and more supports
◆ Depending on the orientation you will receive different results of the total
displacement.
Tutorial
Example: Heat Treatment
Back to p.1
Introduction
◆ In this chapter the different heat treatment stages of Simufact Additive are
presented with a twin-cantilever geometry
You can also find

◆ This chapter is a step-by-step tutorial that shows how to set up a model the model from this
and postprocess it chapter in the
Demos explorer
◆ The different heat treatment (HT) stages that are available are full HT and
transient HT. Additionally a hot isostatic pressing (HIP) stage can be
simulated
◆ Furthermore, this chapter introduces the restart capabilities of Simufact

Additive
Full heat treatment - Preprocessing
◆ The first simulation will include a full heat treatment stage
◆ The twin-cantilever will be printed and cut from one side. After that, the
heat treatment will take place and the twin-cantilever will be cut from the For a more
other side. This way the different bending behaviors due to stress of basic modelling
relaxation can be observed techniques, refer to
the introduction
chapter Aircraft
◆ Create a new Metal powder bed fusion process Component
with the following settings:

▪ Mechanical – Manufacturing - Accurate
▪ Stages: Build → Cutting → Heat treatment
→ Cutting
◆ In the Machine widget do the following steps. Leave all other settings at
their default values.
◆ Import the part from the Simufact Additive installation directory

(…\simufact\additive\<version>\examples\metal_powder_bed_fusion\heat_t
reatment\CAD-Data\twin_cantilever_1mm.stl) and place this in the middle
of the baseplate at Z = 0 mm
◆ No support structures are generated for this model. The part will be printed
directly on the baseplate
◆ Select the material

AlSi10Mg_powder from
the Simufact Material
library
◆ In the Manufacturing & optimization widget do the following steps.
◆ In the Build stage settings select the AlSi10Mg-200W database entry. This
is only used for the examples. For your own models, you have to calibrate
your inherent strains for every manufacturing process. For more
information see the tutorial chapter Introducing the Inherent Strain Method
and following
For more
◆ For the first Cutting stage, switch from directional cutting to arbitrary cutting information about
and choose the settings so, that only one side of the cantilever is cut at a the usage of the
height of 8 mm database see the
tutorial chapter GUI
Overview
◆ For the heat treatment stage set the approach to Full heat treatment and
the time to 3000 s
For this approach, no T-t-curve is needed. During the simulation of a full HT

stage, it is assumed that the part fully relaxes, and all stresses and strains
are set to zero, without calculating a temperature distribution.
◆ For the second cutting stage, cut the other half at a height of 8mm

When you use
◆ In the Analysis widget do the following steps. 0.5 mm elements in
your final simulation,
make sure to use
◆ Only create a voxel mesh. Due to the parts dimensions, use a voxel size of the same element
0.5 mm to guarantee a high volume fraction. size in the
calibration too, to
capture the element
size dependency of
the inherent strains
◆ If you enter an element size of

exactly 0.5 mm, the mesh may be 0.5 mm
shifted by half an element size,
which will also produce a low volume
fraction. This is due to numerical
inaccuracies of the meshing strategy. 0.50001 mm
To improve the mesh, enter an
element size of 0.50001 mm. This
will produce a high quality mesh.

Full heat treatment - Postprocessing
◆ Start the analysis and go to the Results widget once it is finished
◆ In the result view you can see that the side that is cut before the heat
treatment bends upward due to residual stresses, while the other side
doesn’t
◆ This is due to the fact that during heat treatment a relaxation of stresses
took place
Full heat treatment - Postprocessing
◆ If you check the equivalent stress result value, you can see the residual
stresses at the end of the build stage after the powder removal
A full heat
treatment stage
assumes a full
relaxation of all
stresses. This
doesn’t need to be
the case in reality.
The next slides will
show the transient
◆ At the end of the heat treatment stage, all stresses are set to zero heat treatment
stage, where some
stresses are
remaining at the end
Restart
◆ To set up the next transient heat treatment process, we make use of the
already finished full HT model
◆ We can also use some results of the last simulation for this one and start You can also
this simulation at the end of the first cutting stage delete the restart
files after a finished
analysis with the
◆ This is called a restart and it is used to reduce the time the solver needs to Manage results
dialog (see Chapter
finish the simulation GUI Overview)
◆ A restart is only possible if the checkbox in the Output results section of the
Numerical parameters is activated. This is the default setting.
▪ If this checkbox is activated
additional files will be written.
If you want to save disk space
you can deactivate this box, but
then a restart won’t be possible
Restart
◆ Because we want to keep the first simulation, we have to
copy it with results.
◆ A process with results is locked by default so that no

settings can be changed
◆ For a restart it can be unlocked with the button in the Analysis status The Copy with
section results option initially
offers the
opportunity to
rename the process.
◆ Now you can edit parameters in the existing stages. Once a stage is This won’t be
edited, it will be marked accordingly possible afterwards
◆ When the restart button is clicked,

the GUI will automatically check
which stages are edited and restart
the analysis at the end of the stage that is before the first edited stage
◆ The next slides show the changes for the transient heat treatment process

Transient heat treatment - Preprocessing
Alternatively, to
◆ Unlock the copied process like shown on the last slide and open the heat defining each table
point a temperature
treatment dialog in the Manufacturing & optimization widget rate, holding
temperature and
holding time can be
◆ Switch the approach from Full heat treatment to Transient heat treatment defined
You can edit the

◆ Define the temperature time curve as shown in the following picture advanced HT
parameters
according to your
furnace conditions.
With this
transient HT
approach, material
data at elevated
temperatures is
necessary, even if
the build stage was
simulated with the
mechanical Inherent
With this approach the given temperature is the oven temperature at the Strain approach
given time and the temperature distribution inside the part is calculated
◆ Now, start the simulation with the restart button

Transient heat treatment - Postprocessing
◆ After the simulation finished go to the Results widget and view the
displacements
◆ In contrast to the full heat treatment results, here the second cutting
operation results in a small upwards bending of this cantilever side
Displacements
◆ The reason for this is that there are still some residual stresses remaining
after the heat treatment stage
Equivalent stress
Transient heat treatment - Postprocessing
◆ The stresses are reduced due to a simulation of creep strains
Creep strains
If you use a
material from the
Simufact Material
database that has a
creep law defined,
make sure that it is
valid for your
material charge and
◆ For this a creep law for the used material has to be defined that is valid for HT temperature
the modelled temperature range range
For more
information about
the available creep
laws, check the
infosheet in the
Creep section of the
material properties
HIP - Preprocessing
◆ On the next slides, a hot isostatic pressing (HIP) process is used after the
first cutting process
◆ The HIP process has its own stage. For a restart, only existing stages can
be edited, and no stages can be switched or inserted
◆ That’s why a restart isn’t possible in this case. Instead, copy the transient
HT process without results
◆ In the process properties dialog, delete the Heat treatment stage and insert
a HIP stage in the same position
◆ Also delete the first cutting stage. We already know the distortions before a
HT/ HIP process. A cut cantilever would also deform extensively when the
pressure is applied
HIP - Preprocessing
◆ Open the Part – Properties dialog of the twin cantilever by double-clicking
on the parts entry in the Machine widget
The relative
material density
entry is also present
for support
structures. This
◆ The relative material density is set to 99% by default. For simulations value is also
relevant for
without a HIP stage, this value doesn’t come into affect simulations without
◆ For simulations with a HIP stage, this is the initial density after the element a HIP stage.
activation during the build up. During the HIP loadcase, the part then gets
densified
◆ Set this value to 97%
HIP - Preprocessing
◆ In the Manufacturing & optimization widget, double-click on the HIP stage
to edit its properties
◆ In this dialog, three graphs have to be defined. A temperature-time and a

pressure-time diagram. Also, the densification has to be defined depending
on temperature and pressure
◆ In the Time / temperature and the Time / pressure tab define the following
points
HIP - Preprocessing
◆ In the Densification tab activate the checkbox to enable the densification
during the simulation For the
simulation, the
◆ Two densification types are available, Tabular and Hollow sphere model solver will
◆ With the tabular definition you can manually define your densification curve interpolate between
the given curves.
for different temperatures That’s why one
◆ For this tutorial we will use the hollow sphere model. For more information curve at room
temperature and
about this model open the infosheet that is linked in this dialog one at the max.
◆ Add two temperature entries by clicking on the symbol twice oven temperature
should always be
◆ Leave one entry at 20°C and set the other one to 300°C. Assign yield present.
stresses of 200 MPa and 50 MPa
Ideally, the used
approach should be
validated with
experimental data
HIP - Postprocessing
◆ Start the simulation and open the results once it is finished
◆ When you cut through your part with a clipping plane, you can see the
calculated density distribution
Relative density Creep is also

calculated for HIP
processes if defined
in the material
properties
Differences
between the
bending after a HIP
◆ Volumetric changes and changes in material properties are not considered and full HT stage
during the densification result from different
stress states
Summary
◆ Depending on your goals, you might want to choose between different HT
process types:
◆ Full Heat Treatment → Stresses are being set to zero, Simulation of a HT

process under the presumption that all stresses are relaxed completely
◆ Transient Heat Treatment → Relaxation due to creep analysis, Correct

material data necessary
◆ HIP → Relaxation due to creep if material data is present, Also simulation

of the densification based on densification diagramm
◆ Runtimes differ significantly. While the full HT stage is very fast, transient
HT and HIP stages run longer
◆ Use the restart functionality to save time during simulation. Edit already
existing secondary process stages after the build simulation

Tutorial
Example: PBF process & defect analysis
Back to p.1
Introduction
◆ The PBF process & defect analysis (PBF PDA) module provides the
possibility to predict the influence of main manufacturing parameters on the
outcome of MPBF processes in a very short period of time.
◆ As results, analytically calculated process maps showing different zones of

manufacturing results dependent on the process parameters (Single stripe
map vs. Single track map) as well as diverse numerically calculated results PBF PDA
on part geometries can be evaluated. module requires its
own licenses,
whereby the GUI
◆ Different kinds of defect formation like keyhole porosity, lack of fusion or and solver are
licensed separately
unmelt, balling, high surface roughness, etc. can be determined analytically (Simufact Additive
or numerically. Process & Defect
Analysis GUI and
Simufact Additive
◆ A defect analysis can be placed before a MPBF process simulation for early Process & Defect
defect prediction and identification of ideal process settings for a defect-free Analysis Solver).
part. After that, the identified settings can be passed to the MPBF process
easily for a detailed simulation of distortions and stresses.
Introduction
◆ In this example, a defect analysis of a bearing bracket is performed. Main
parts of the workflow are:
▪ Setting the required machine parameters e.g. max. laser power and
max. laser speed.
▪ Loading the part geometry and assigning material to the part.
▪ Calling the single stripe map or single track map showing the
“operating window” of the process before the simulation and identifying
a process parameter combination based on that.
▪ Running the simulation to see the defects that could occur with the The complete
project files of the
selected parameter combination. example presented
in this tutorial are
referenced in the
Demos & Examples
explorer.
Creating a project and defining process properties
◆ Create a new project and select the PBF process & defect analysis process
type. Only one single
simulation
◆ Rename the project to ‘bearing_bracket’ and store it in your desired configuration and
location. simulation type is
supported in the
b PBF PDA module.
The same, there is
only one single
stage “Build”
available in the
manufacturing
process chain.
a c It is easy to
change the process
type from PBF PDA
to MPBF later with
all relevant settings
transferred
automatically.
Currently only a
single part is
supported per
process.

Defining machine parameters
◆ Besides the predefined machine parameters, there are two additional
parameters required by a defect analysis:
▪ Maximum laser power
A machine will
▪ Maximum laser speed be marked as
◆ The two parameters are used as the default upper limit for the x- and y-axis incomplete, if the
max laser power or
of the single stripe map and single track map. speed is missing or
◆ In this example, we use the machine EOS M290 in the database where invalid (must be
greater than 0).
these two parameters are available.
◆ Therefore, go to “Machine” widget, double-click on “Machine” or right-click You are allowed
on it and select “Configure”. In the Product library select M290 under EOS, to change these
the both parameters are predefined in the Machine parameters tab: values although they
are predefined.
Changing of these
values will result in a
scaling of the single
a stripe map and
single track map
automatically.
c
d
b

Importing the part geometry
◆ In this example, we use the geometry of a bearing bracket.
◆ In the “Machine” widget, double-click on “Parts” or right-click on it and

select “Import”: You can access
the properties dialog
either by using left
double mouse click,
or using the right
a mouse click and
d
The table below
c
shows you the
b import formats which
e Simufact Additive
supports:
◆ You can find the bearing bracket component CAD file in the following path:
▪ …\simufact\additive\<version>\examples\metal_powder_bed_fusion\de
fect_analysis\bearing_bracket\CAD-Data\bearing_bracket_horizontal-
m.stl
Geometry import and pre-positioning
◆ The following dialog shows the dimensions of the part that is about to be Make sure to
imported. You can also do a quick pre-positioning here (e.g. center the part select the right unit
system when you
to the base plate). import a part.
◆ For this .stl file the unit “Meter” should be selected.
You can also
◆ Now center the part and set a ‘Distance to bottom’ of 10 mm:
check if your
imported geometry
fits in the machine
dimensions.
Therefore, compare
the dimensions of
the build space and
the component’s
bounding box.
a
Use the
b centering buttons to
place your part in
the center of the
c build space. Or
d
enter a position
manually.
e

In this tutorial,
we will create the
◆ To generate supports with Simufact Additive, hover your curser over the support structures
Supports container. Then double click on the desired part group. by using the option
◆ In this example, we use the default settings to generate supports for the “Generate supports”.
Furthermore, you
bracket. can import existing
support geometries
by using the option
“Import”.
a
With the feature
b “Preview” the
surfaces where the
supports will be
created are marked
in the model view.
While creating
the support
structures you have
several options, e.g.
c
the support radius.
For more detailed
◆ Supports are considered during the calculation. However, defects will not information, please
click on the
be mapped on supports, means that you will not see the defects on infosheet button.
supports as results.

Please note that

after creating the
support structures
the model legend
will be expanded by
the amount of
support structures
which are added.
Several support
structures are
assembled to one
geometry to get a
single support
structure.
◆ To assign your part a material, in the “Machine” widget double click the
Material entry or right click on it and select “Library”: There is now a
tab “Defect analysis”
in the material data
in which the material
properties required
a by a defect analysis
are defined.
Simufact
Additive provides
c following material
datasets with these
b d properties: 316L, IN-
625, IN-718, Ti6Al4V
and AlSi10Mg.
In addition to
e these properties,
thermal properties
and powder grain
◆ Select the material TiAl6V4_powder from the library and confirm your size are also
choice with OK. necessary inputs for
a defect analysis.
◆ Then you will notice that the status bar below the machine widget turns
green, which means all the required informations are defined in the
machine widget.

Setting the build properties - efficiency
◆ After assigning the material to the part, you can theoretically call up the
single stripe map or single track map in the “Manufacturing & optimization”
widget. These will provide an overview of “operating window” of the
process before the simulation. A realistic value
of efficiency is the
◆ Before calling up the map, make sure you have defined the appropriate
basis for producing
efficiency in the “Build - properties” dialog. Therefore, please set a value of reliable maps. This
40% based on the selected material Ti6Al4V for this example: is dependent on the
selected material.
If you don't have

these information
available, please
a use the
c recommended
values below:
b
- 316L, IN-625 and
Ti6Al4V: 0.4
- IN-718: 0.45
- AlSi10Mg: 0.2
◆ We will keep the other parameters as default at this point and look at the
single stripe map and single track map under the “Build” first.

Single stripe map vs. Single track map Following
parameters are
◆ Double-click on Single stripe map or Single track map to open them: involved in the
calculation of SSM
and STM as well:
spot size, layer
thickness, hatch
distance and
compaction degree.
Change these
parameters to see
their effects on the
maps.
You have in the

single stripe map the
possibility to adjust
the parameter
“Distance from stripe
edge” to see the
predictions at
◆ Single stripe map or Single track map are Laser power vs. Scan speed different locations.
plots showing how process outcomes vary with parameter choices. With
certain parameter combination you can expect to achieve a consistent, For more
fully-dense component, but with some others, different defects can occur. detailed information
about the different
◆ While the Single track map predicts the defects that can occur in the defects shown in the
single weld track, the single stripe map considers a wider scope in the map, please click on
the infosheet button.
stripe which can consist of multiple weld tracks.

Identifying process parameter from SSM or STM
◆ Single stripe map or single track map are as the name implies only for the The “stable
prediction of single (local) track or stripe, without consideration of the keyhole, no porosity”
area will be
effects from part geometry or interactions between tracks or stripes. considered as defect
Therefore, every location of the part has an unique map and this can free area in the post-
change throughout the process. processing.
◆ To achieve a good part density, try to start with a parameter combination

Single stripe
in the “defect free” or “stable keyhole, no porosity” area. map or single track
◆ In this example, we will keep the other parameters as default value except map can be used as
a good starting
for laser power and laser speed. point, if you have
◆ To get some possible defects as results, we pick up a power-speed less idea about the
selection of process
combination at the border between “stable keyhole, no porosity” and parameters.
“unstable keyhole, porosity” area. Therefore, go to “Build - properties”
dialog again and set a power of 400W and a speed of 800mm/s: Provide more
details on the scan
strategy and
hatching parameters
in the tab “Hatch
parameters” to
obtain more
accurate defects
prediction map.

◆ Double-click on the “Voxel mesh” entry in the “Analysis” widget to open
the meshing properties.
Defect analysis
◆ Please change the parameters for the voxel meshing as shown in figure: uses hexahedral
elements (voxel
elements) for the
calculation, where
all components
share common
nodes.
a c
Coarsening of
the voxel mesh is
b not supported in
PDA module.
Please make
d sure that the surface
mesh is not too
coarse. This is
important when
mapping the results
Finishing model setup and starting the simulation
To start the
simulation, every
indicator below the
The indicators below the “Machine”, widgets must show
“Manufacturing & optimization” and a green or yellow
“Analysis” widgets turn green if everything light!
The current state

◆ The progress bar states are updated in the GUI right after the solver starts of the model has to
running so that users are given feedback: be saved before
starting the
simulation. Thus, an
additional dialog to
save the project will
pop up if the project
has not been saved
before clicking on
the green arrow to
start the simulation.
◆ Left to the ‘Start analysis’ button is the model check. There you can review
warnings and error messages regarding your current model state before
starting the analysis.

Postprocessing 2D Results
◆ Defect and post-exposure stripe temperature maps: In the PDA
module, only the
results at last
increment are
available. Instead,
you can see the
layer based 2D
results during the
process.
An embedded
slider helps you
navigate along the
layers and provides
also information in
the height and
◆ Defect map shows the part area with or without defects i.e. keyhole number of active
porosity, lack of fusion / unmelt or high surface roughness. layer.
◆ Post-exposure stripe temperature map shows the local temperature right
after the laser beam has passed through the last stripe of the current layer. You have also
It takes heat effects from diverse sources into account, e.g. previous possibility to switch
layers, preceding stripes in the current layer, previous hatches in the the view between
2D and 3D with the
current stripe, etc. button close to the
◆ Some areas can be cooled down during the layer time, thus post-exposure slider.
stripe temperature can be below melting temperature in a defect-free area.

Postprocessing 3D Results
◆ Roughness map and temperature:
Roughness map
and temperature are
surface results
which are mapped
from voxel mesh
onto surface mesh
at the end of
◆ Roughness map enables the evaluation of increased surface roughness. simulation.
◆ Different from 2D post-exposure stripe temperature map, 3D result

temperature represents the final temperature of the part at the end of the
process.
Transferring the process settings into a MPBF process
◆ If you are satisfied with the process settings, it is possible to save them in
the database or export them in a .xml file using the buttons shown below.
◆ You can use these settings in a MPBF process later by selecting them from
Hovering over
database: an entry and right-
clicking will open a
context menu which
allows you to open
the database
directory or to delete
it.
The shortcut
Ctrl+E will open the
file explorer as well.
◆ As long as no results are present, you can give a specified name to the Find the path for
settings which are to be saved in the database. both libraries in the
settings under
◆ Alternatively, you can create a copy of the PDA process and switch the
General -> Master
process type to MPBF with all relevant settings transferred automatically. library.
◆ The option “Export to machine” is supported in PDA module which enables
a direct export of the scan trajectories to different machines. Please note
using this feature requires additional licenses of the machine manufacturer.

Tutorial
Example: Metal Binder Jetting
Back to p.1
Introduction
◆ The binder jetting module allows for sintering simulation of green parts Simufact offers
obtained by binder jetting additive manufacturing process. Distortion and the material 316L
shrinkage behaviour can be evaluated. with properly defined
parameters. For
◆ Further a distortion compensation algorithm is offered as a technical more information on
preview. It allows to generate a pre-compensated geometry which, when the material data
sintered, deforms in such a way, that a desired final shape is obtained. please also refer to
the infosheet linked
Note, that the input geometry is the desired target geometry. in the sintering card
in simufact material.
◆ In this example the sintering of a hinge is performed. Main parts of the For the binder
workflow are: jetting module a
separate license is
▪ loading the geometry of the green part required.
▪ assigning a properly defined material to the geometry
Do not use pre-
▪ specifying the sintering time temperature profile compensated
▪ specifying the initial relative density geometries if the
distortion
▪ setting up a distortion compensation compensation
algorithm should be
applied.

Introduction
◆ In this tutorial, a sintering simulation of the hinge is performed, followed by
the description of the application of a distortion compensation of the part.
The complete
project files of the
examples presented
referenced in the
demos explorer.
◆ Create a new project and select the metal binder jetting process type.
Rename the project to ‘hinge-sintering’ and store it in your desired location
b Please note that

it is not possible to
change the process
type later.
c
Additional heat
a treatment stages
may be added. For
this tutorial only the
sintering stage is
applied.
d

Importing CAD-geometry
◆ Import the green part geometry with default settings and position it at the center
of the base plate.
The original
CAD-geometry of
the part is used as
an input for the
sintering simulation.
It is assumed, that
the printing process
does not lead to any
shape changes and
that the CAD-
geometry is exactly
reproduced.
a
Please note that
b Simufact Additive
does not consider or
simulate any effects
of de-binding.
◆ The geometry is stored in
..\Simufact\additive\<version>\examples\hinge_sintering\CAD-
Data\Part.stp

Importing CAD-geometry
◆ Import the setter geometry with default settings and position it by 82.35 mm to
left, 73.0 mm to front and 0.0 to bottom.
a b
Simufact also
offers the possibility
to import and use
setters. Setters of
c type ‘live’ and
‘ceramic’ are
available.
◆ The geometry is stored in
..\Simufact\additive\<version>\examples\hinge_sintering\CAD-
Data\Setter.stl
◆ Import the file with unit millimeters

Setter groups properties
◆ Double click on Setters and change the type to live.
a
Simufact also
offers the possibility
to import and use
setters. Setters of
type ‘live’ and
‘ceramic’ are
available.
Assigning a material
When opening
older sintering-
projects, please
reload the material
a from the database.
For more
information about
the relevant material
properties, please
see the tutorial
chapter “Materials
for Additive“.
Sintering data is
based on: Rui Zhang,
b 2005, "Numerical
simulation of solid-
state sintering of metal
powder compact
dominated by grain
▪ Choose the powder material 316L_powder from the library. The boundary diffusion",
PhD Thesis, The
material is fully defined for sintering simulation. Pennsylvania State
▪ Check the different tabs in the material properties to get more University,
Graduate
The
School,
information on the defined properties. Note that proper material Department of
definition is essential for the reliability of the result. Engineering Science
and Mechanics.

Specifying the sintering properties The temperature
profile can also be found
in the Simufact Product
library, see 316L-
5h30min-1350C. You can
a also save the defined
profile and import it to the
library.
It is possible to
b e deactivate gravity if
desired.
The theoretical
density is given in the
material definition. For the
value a fully dense
material is assumed.
The thermal cycle
c method is used, i.e. the
sintering cycle is applied
d as a nodal temperature.
The data for the
initial relative density and
the thermal cycle is based
on: Rui Zhang, 2005,
"Numerical simulation of
solid-state sintering of
metal powder compact
dominated by grain
boundary diffusion", PhD
◆ Specify the time temperature curve in the sintering properties.
Thesis, The Pennsylvania
◆ Enter a value of 82% for the initial relative density. It is the ratio of the State University, The
Graduate School,
measured green part density to the theoretical density, i.e. for this Department of
Engineering Science and
example: green part density = 0.82 * theoretical density Mechanics.

Example: Metal Binder Jetting You can use
Use the optimization smaller values (e. g.
-0.5) for the
compensation factor
if the simulation
does not well
converge because
of bad mesh or
inside out elements.
a b
If multiple parts
are in the process,
they will all appear
in the dialog. Each
selected part will be
◆ The distortion compensation is covered in a
activated in the manufacturing separate compen-
c sation run.
and optimization widget.
◆ Select the part to be optimized,
specify the acceptable distortion
and the number of steps, i.e. the
number of iterations to be
performed.
◆ If desired, a compensation factor can be defined, default value is -1
◆ Activating the option “Interrupt between runs“ deactivate the
automatical run of the dirstortion compensation and that enable you to
make changes before running a new variant.
◆ You can optionally specify an export directory for the geometries
Creating volume mesh and finishing model setup
a
b
d
c
◆ Create a mesh with element size 1.3 mm
◆ For the setter create a mesh with the automatically calculated element
size (2.28391 mm)
◆ Specify 4 domain for DDM and 2 SMP cores
◆ Use friction coefficients of 0.3 for both part and setter
Creating volume mesh and finishing model setup
◆ In contact allow separation in the same increment

◆ Use a maximum number of separations of 99
Starting the simulation
In case you
◆ If all settings are specified, start the simulation receive a warning
about the part
penetrating the
a base plate, check if
the simulation starts.
b If this is not the
case, please
reposition the part
using the rotation
and translation
◆ As soon as results are available you can access them via the result menu positioner after first
translating it slightly
in z-direction.
The part will

c expand initially due
to the thermal
expansion effects
during heating.
Make sure that the
expanded part does
not exceed the
machine space. In
that case the
simulation will abort.

Evaluating the shrinkage
◆ Shrinkage
Use sintering
dilatometry for
evaluation of the
final shrinkage! It is
highly
recommended to
use the obtained
experimental data
for calibrating the
sintering process.
Note that the

result value ‘sinter
stress’ is only
available during the
shrinkage process
Initial Final but not for the initial
expansion.
◆ During the sintering process, the part shrinks significantly. The total
shrinkage can be evaluated by activating the result value “total
displacement”.

Evaluating the relative density
◆ Relative density
The result of the

simulation is a
distribution of the
relative density.
Note that the

initial relative
density is however
homogeneously
distributed as an
inhomogeneous
density distribution
is currently not
supported as input.
Initial Final
◆ The initial relative density is 82%. During the sintering process, the part
is subjected to an intense densification. The final relative density reaches
a maximum value of 96%.

Evaluating the grain size
◆ Grain Size
The grain size is

homogeneously
distributed. The
thermal cycle is
applied to all nodes
simultaneously,
therefore, no
temperature gradients
are present.
Initial Final
◆ During the sintering process, the grain size increases from 5.0 μm up to
a maximum of 48.76 μm.

Evaluating the iterative optimization
Note that the
◆ Since you have activated the distortion compensation in the dimensions of the
manufacturing and optimization widget and specified all settings for that, compensated part
will increase, as
an iterative optimization will be performed after the sintering process. shrinkage effects
are considered. It
might happen that
the compensated
part exceeds the
machine space. In
that case the
Initial sintering optimization will
Iteration 1
abort.
Iteration 2
The distortion
compensation is an
◆ After the sintering process is finished, a new instance of the process with iterative process.
a modified scaled geometry is created automatically. The default target
geometry is the
initial shape.
The maximum
number of iterations
is specified in the
distortion
compensation
settings.

Distortion compensation - Introduction
◆ The distortion compensation algorithm determines the initial green part
shape required to obtain a desired final geometry. The iterative algorithm
is based on the sintering simulation results of the initial part.
◆ The shape of the initial part is taken as the desired target geometry.
Therefore, the final desired geometry has to be used as an input.
◆ The algorithm has to be manually activated before the sintering
simulation is started. Before simulating a distortion compensation, make
sure that your sintering simulation results are coherent with experimental
data Do not use pre-
compensated
geometries but the
desired target
geometry as input.
multiple
iterations
Initial geometry Sintered initial Compensated Sintered compensated
(target) geometry geometry geometry
(shrinked) (≙target± tolerance)

Monitoring the optimization progress
◆ As soon as results are created, you can access them in the result menu.
You can monitor the convergence behaviour in the displayed result graph.
a
For more
information also
b check the messages
in the log-file of the
optimization
Iteration 1 process. You can
directly access it via
the distortion
compensation result
view.
Iteration 2 Iteration 3

Evaluating the compensation results
◆ The compensated geometry is larger than the initial target geometry.
For advanced
◆ The sintering result of the compensated part meets the target geometry users: It is possible
within the specified tolerance. to change the
sintered acceptable distortion
compensated after a successful
compensated
completion of a
target target target compensation. This
might be useful if the
tolerance
requirements
change
subsequently. First
close the GUI. Then
open the Distortion
Compensation folder
in the project
directory of the initial
process. In the
distortion
Initial geometry Compensated vs. Target vs. sintered Compensation.xml-
(target) target geometry compensated geometry file change the value
in the
allowedDistortion-
◆ To export the compensated geometry, users have to export the Part tag. Reopen the GUI
geometry of the final process through the Machine widget. and the simulation
will continue.

Tutorial
Example: Machining
Back to p.1
Example: Machining
Introduction
◆ The Machining module provides the possibility to simulate the stress relief
of a part by removing machining volumes. The changes of stress and
distortion in the part resulting from the removal of material can be
evaluated.
◆ In this example, the machining process of a bracket from a rolled block is

performed, the block contains residual stress resulting from the rolling
process.
◆ Main parts of the workflow are:
▪ Importing the required geometries for the The complete
machining simulation project files of the
➢ Raw part which contains residual stress example presented
➢ Finished machined target geometry referenced in the
➢ Volumes to be removed in the planned steps Demos & Examples
➢ Fixation geometries to constrain the part explorer.
(optional)
▪ Assigning a properly material to the geometry
▪ Specifying the machining process properties
▪ Creating voxel and surface mesh
▪ Evaluating of the results

Example: Machining
◆ Create a new project and select the Machining process type.
◆ Rename the project to ‘machined bracket’ and store it in your desired
location.
Please note that
b it is not possible to
change the process
type later.
There is only
one single stage
a type “Machining”
available in the
machining process
c chain, but you can
add multiple
“Machining” stages
to consider the
sequence of the part
machining or to use
different fixation
positions in the
stages.

Example: Machining
Required CAD-geometries for a machining simulation
◆ There are 4 groups of geometries to be imported in the “Machine” widget
for a machining simulation:
▪ In the Parts entry, the geometry which contains the residual stress and
the machining allowances should be imported.
For the
▪ In the Machined parts entry, the finished milled or machined target Machining process
geometry should be imported. type, you can import
one geometry or
multiple geometries
into Parts, Machined
▪ In the Machining volumes entry under Additional geometries, you can parts, Machining
import any number of the geometries corresponding to the volumes to volumes and
be removed in the planned steps. Fixation geometries
entry.
▪ In the Fixation geometries entry under Additional geometries, you can

import any number of the geometries from which the part fixations can
be calculated automatically (optional). Alternatively, you can also
define the part fixations later by selecting nodes in the model.

Example: Machining
Importing CAD-geometry for Parts
You can access
◆ There are 2 ways to import geometry with residual stress: the properties dialog
▪ You can import the geometry with results from the previous processes either by using left
in the same Simufact Additive project if they exist. In this case, right- double mouse click,
click on Parts and select “Import from results”. Please note that this or using the right
mouse click and
option is not available if no process exists in the same project. selecting properties.
▪ You can also import the geometry with results from another program
such as Simufact Forming. You can find the
CAD-file in the
◆ In this example, we use the second method to import the geometry. following path:
◆ Therefore, go to “Machine” widget, double-click on “Parts” or right-click on it …\simufact\additive\
and select “Import”: version\examples\na
chining\machined_br
acket\CAD-
Data\Block.unv
a
The import of the
geometry into Parts
entry can be done in
c the following file
d
b formats:
e

Example: Machining
Result and CAD import options
◆ In the next dialogs you can set up the import options of the results and the
geometry. Make sure to
◆ Since the geometry to be machined is manufactured from a rolling process select the right unit
system for the
in Simufact Forming and exported in Simufact default unit system, in the geometry and the
result options dialog please select Simufact default unit system as Unit results when you
system and select Meter as Unit in the geometry options dialog. import a part.
The geometry
should at least
contain following
post values:
Temperature,
Effective plastic
strain, Stress tensor.
Missing of the
required post values
will trigger a warning
during the model
check and have an
impact on the
simulation results.

Example: Machining
Importing CAD-geometry for Machined part
◆ In the same way, double-click on “Machined part” under part group in the
machined parts sub widget or right-click on it and select “Import”.
◆ You can find the CAD-file of the finished machined target geometry
Machined_bracket.stl in the same path:
The geometry to
be machined and
the finished
machined target
geometry must be
d positioned correctly
a so that the results
can be mapped
correctly at the end
c of the simulation.
e This can be done
b before import or
using the positioning
◆ Import the geometry with the Unit Millimeter: tools in Simufact
Additive.
Example: Machining
Importing CAD-geometry for Machining volumes
◆ Now right-click on “Machining volumes” under Additional geometries and
You can select
select “Import”: multiple geometries
◆ You can find 15 CAD-files of the geometries to be removed in 3 steps from by holding CTRL to
import them all at
Machining_step_1_1 to Machining_step_3_1.stl in the same path: once.
Activate “Use
unit for all imported
a geometries” in the
geometry options to
select unit for all
geometries to be
c imported at once.
b
At this point, you
may receive a
warning that there
are non-manifold
geometries to be
imported. You can
ignore the warning
since they will not
affect the results of
the machining
process simulation.
d
◆ Import all the geometries with the Unit Millimeter.
Example: Machining
Importing CAD-geometry for Fixations
◆ Now right-click on “Fixation geometries” under Additional geometries and
select “Import”:
◆ You can find 2 CAD-files of the fixations Clamp1.stl and Clamp2.stl in the
same path:
c
b
◆ Import all the geometries with the Unit Millimeter.
Example: Machining
By default, the
Part is displayed as
transparent in the
model view,
Machining volumes
and Fixation
geometries are
displayed as red/
green and
transparent
respectively for a
better view.
Example: Machining
Assigning a material
◆ To assign your part a material, in the “Machine” widget double click the
Material entry or right click on it and select “Library”:
a
d
c
b
◆ Choose the material TiAl6V4_c3 for this example from the library and
confirm your choice with OK.
◆ Then you will notice that the status bar below the machine widget turns
green, which means that all the required informations are defined in the
machine widget.

Example: Machining
Specifying the machining stage properties
◆ Go to the ‘Manufacturing & optimization’ widget and open the Machining
stage properties by right-clicking and selecting “Configure” or double-
clicking on it directly:
◆ There are 2 properties to be defined in this
dialog:
a
▪ Machining order: You can specify which
machining volumes should be removed in
the current stage and their order.
c
b
▪ Fixations: Some degrees

of freedom of the part
should be fixed during the
machining process. You
can define the fixation
position and direction by
selecting nodes manually
or you can import fixation
geometries and activate
them to calculate fixations
automatically.
Example: Machining
Defining the fixations automatically – fixation geometries
◆ In the Fixations area, select Geometrical (a) to switch the mode of defining
the fixations. There you could see all the fixation geometries available in the
model. Right-click or double click (b) on the Fixation state column of each For each
fixation, at least one
geometry to activate them by checking the checkbox. With the same degree of freedom
behavior on the Fixing direction column (c) you could define the Fixation should be fixed.
direction of each geometry.
Under
“Numerical
parameter –
a Advanced –
Machining” you have
c the possibility to
define the parameter
“machining fixation
b distance” according
to your geometry
which defines the
distance used to
search for nodes
around machining
fixations. In this
◆ Activate both fixation geometries and leave the direction with x, y, z. Fixation example a value of
state of the both geometries will then turn to Active and after Geometrical
0.05 mm is used.
you will see the total number of the active fixation geometries.

Example: Machining
Specifying the Machining order
◆ In the Machining order area, select step1_1 to step1_12 by holding and
dragging the left mouse through the list or using CTRL + left mouse on the
name of the machining volumes. Then click Assign (a) to remove them in At the beginning,
the current stage with their original order: all machining
volumes are in the
“Unassigned
machining
volumes” list which
means that these
volumes will not be
removed during the
a simulation.
By using the buttons
( , ) you can
b
assign or unassign
single or multiple
machining volumes,
or you can assign or
unassign all the
machining volumes
at once with the
buttons ( , ).
◆ Activating the option “Remove at once” (b) allows to remove all the
volumes in the Machining order list in a single step without order.

Example: Machining
Adding multiple Machining stages
◆ In this example, we planned 3 steps for the machining process, in some of
which the part should be reclamped. As soon as during the machining
process the fixation setting is to be changed, a new machining stage
should be created. In the ‘Manufacturing & optimization’ widget right-click
on “Stages” and select “Configure” or double-click on it directly:
a You can also

complete this step at
the very beginning
c when you create the
project and select
b the process type.
d
e
◆ In the process properties dialog, click on Insert stage (d) and select
Machining (e) to add 2 other machining stages into the process.

Example: Machining
Specifying the machining stage properties
◆ Using the same procedure, please specify the machining order for the
second and the third machining stages:
Definition of the
fixations in the
second stage can
remain unchanged
as the first
machining stage.
◆ In the next slide you will be introduced how to define the fixations
manually by selecting nodes in the model for the third machining stage.

Example: Machining
Defining the fixations manually – selecting nodes
◆ In the Fixations area, stay at Manual mode (a) and click Add fixation (b) to
add entries in the list and enter the coordinates of the fixation center
manually. Or you can click Select from view (c) and Pick nodes (d) to
select nodes in the model view directly:
a
b
Your fixings
c should look similar
to the table on the
d left but not
necessarily be the
same.
◆ For the third machining stage, select the nodes to be machined in the
model view and change the diameter of the sphere to change the areas to
be fixed as shown above.

Example: Machining
Creating Voxel mesh
◆ Go to “Analysis” widget, double-click on “Voxel mesh” or right-click on it and
select “Configure”.
◆ Please change the parameter for the voxel meshing as shown in figure
below:
Simufact
a Additive uses
hexahedral
elements (voxel
d
elements) for the
e calculation, where
c all components
share common
b
nodes. It is
recommended that
the voxel mesh is
fine enough for
results mapping.
f
Example: Machining
Checking the fixations in all the machining stages
◆ After generating the voxel mesh, all the defined fixations can be visualized
by right-clicking in the analysis view and selecting “Show boundary
conditions – Show fixed displacements”:
Example: Machining
Creating Surface mesh
◆ Although the machining simulation is performed on the voxel mesh, results Please make
can be mapped to the surface mesh of the machined part at the end of the sure that the surface
analysis. For this purpose, we need a surface mesh of the machined part. mesh is not too
coarse. This is
◆ If the existing surface mesh is not uniform or fine enough when importing important when
the geometry, it is recommended to remesh the geometry in Simufact mapping the results
Additive. The remeshing can also be performed after the simulation.
◆ To remesh the machined part, in the “Analysis” widget (a), right-click on the Beneath „Voxel
machined part under Surface mesh (b) and select “Configure” (c) or mesh“ is the
„Volume mesh“
double-click on it directly. Enter an Element size of 2.0 mm (d) and entry. There you can
generate a new surface mesh (e). mesh your parts with
tetrahedral
elements. This is
only used for a
a volume export of
d your results and not
for the S+ process
itself. Therefore, to
perform a machining
b simulation, a volume
e
mesh is not
c necessary.

Example: Machining
Finishing model setup and starting the simulation
◆ In the ‘Numerical parameters’ dialog in the “Analysis” widget you can set up
the parallelization options. For this example, keep the default setting: the
number of domains to 8 and for each domain 1 core.


Example: Machining
Postprocessing: Equivalent stress
◆ Stress relief of the part by removing machining volumes
You can choose

between surface
and voxel results.
The solver
calculates the output
results for the voxel
mesh which are
mapped on the
surface mesh at the
end of the
Initial Final calculation.
◆ Generally, a higher value of equivalent stress appears in areas where the

machining volumes have been removed.
Example: Machining
Postprocessing: Total displacement
◆ You can also evaluate the total displacement of the part by removing
machining volumes:
◆ Because of the rigid body movement, the total displacement is not a good
measure to evaluate the result quality. Therefore, we will apply the best fit
function and evaluate the result value ‘Surface deviation’.

Example: Machining
Postprocessing: Shape comparison
◆ To evaluate the surface deviation, click on the “Result” widget, then right
click on “Surface results” and select “Shape comparison”:
b c
Example: Machining
Postprocessing: Surface deviation
◆ First, switch to the mode “Surface deviation” (a) and then click on the blue
arrow (b) to proceed the best fit alignment with the initial shape as
reference. Then activate the visualization of surface deviation to see the
You can import
desired result (c). more reference
geometries and see
the surface
deviations, by
default the geometry
of machined part is
selected as the
a initial shape for
b evaluating the
surface deviation.
c
The best fit
method is very
reliant on the quality
of the input surface
meshes. Make sure
that the surface of
the imported
machined part is of
good quality!

Example: Machining
Export of machined part for further processes
◆ If you have imported the machined part with volume mesh or generated for
it in Simufact Additive, you have the possibility to export the machined part
for further processes.
◆ Therefore, in the „Results“ widget (a) right-click on Voxel results (b) and
select UNV export (c). In the UNV export dialog select the machined part
(d) and the corresponding increment (e) to be exported.
Further
information about
a UNV export can be
found in the
infosheet
e ‘UNVExport_en.pdf’
linked in the dialog.
b c
Tutorial
Materials for Additive
Back to p.1
Introduction
◆ For a simulation, the material data is crucial for a successful completion
with good result quality.
◆ The Simufact Additive installation comes with a separate installation of
Simufact Material, that offers a vast database of various materials.
An extensive
◆ Simufact Material is used with our products Simufact Forming and documentation on
Simufact Welding as well, whereby the installed material database is Simufact Material
and the existing
always the same. properties comes
◆ This means that only a portion of the delivered materials are suited for with the Material
Simufact Additive processes. installation in form
of a tutorial and
◆ Also, the material cards includes properties, that are only of interest for various
Simufact Forming or Welding, which makes them irrelevant for Simufact infosheets. This
chapter only
Additive. serves the
◆ This tutorial chapter should enable you to find the relevant materials and purpose of
describing what is
to differentiate what properties need to be defined for your Additive relevant for
simulation. Simufact Additive.
Simufact Material
◆ To search for materials, you can use the filters on the left side of Simufact
Material.
◆ Depending on the current process type, an ‘Area of application’ filter
might be preselected
◆ You can also filter by other criteria (creep properties → transient heat
treatment or HIP, sintering → Metal Binder Jetting)
◆ The filter system is only there to organize the database. You can also use The category
Powder doesn’t
materials outside of the mean that the data
preselected area of are powder
properties, but the
application, if the required properties of the
material properties are defined. bulk material that is
the result of the
◆ On the next slides the manufacturing
material card sections are
presented, with advice on
what properties are necessary
for the different process types
User defined Material
The installed Simufact database entries are read-only
You can create your own material from scratch or copy an existing one
and change some values. The entry in Simufact Material will be marked
with a ‘U’, indicating a user defined material
◆ You can also change a material that was imported into a Simufact
Additive project and save it to you user database with its right-click
context menu to make it available for other projects as well
Changing material
properties in the
project does not
affect database
entries
Material properties section
◆ On the following slides the material properties tabs are shown, and it is
explained which inputs are needed for which process type
◆ If some properties are defined that are not used in Simufact Additive,
these inputs will be ignored
◆ Many values can be defined dependent on the temperature. For
mechanical Metal Powder Bed Fusion and Machining processes, where Open the material
properties by
the temperatures are not considered, the values at 20°C are taken. The double-clicking on
defined temperature range should be from room temperature up to close the material in
to melting temperature Simufact Material
or Simufact
◆ If the build stage is calculated mechanical, but there is a transient heat Additive
treatment or HIP stage in the process chain, the material data at elevated
temperatures is still needed Table entries are
kept constant
◆ The material properties also might be dependent on the composition of outside of the
the gas in the build space. defined range
Metal Powder Bed Fusion = MPBF
Metal Binder Jetting = MBJ
Machining

General properties
◆ This site mainly serves an
informational purpose
◆ Fill out some fields to find your
material quickly with the filters in
Simufact Material
◆ The options ‘Tool material‘ and
‘Rigid plasticity‘ will influence the
results considerably. They are not
recommended for any process
type in Simufact Additive
◆ The material scope fills out
automatically based on the flow
curve input, to get a quick
overview if the material is suited
for your use case
Chemical composition
◆ The entered values won’t have an
influence on any process type of
Simufact Additive
◆ This site can be filled out though,
to document this information about
the material
Powder characterization
◆ To access this section, the ‘Area
of application’ has to be set to
‘Powder’ in the ‘General
properties’
◆ No option on this site influences
your simulation and can be filled
out for informational purpose
The ‘Powder costs’ field is needed
to perform a cost estimation in the
preprocessing of a MPBF process.
This value should be updated
regularly to keep it up to date
In a thermal/ thermomechanical
simulation of the MPBF process,
the cold and hot spot
temperatures are needed to
review the cold/ hot spots result
values during postprocessing

Thermal properties
The ‘Thermal properties’ and
‘Latent heat’ sections are needed
in a thermal/ thermomechanical
simulation of a MPBF process.
The evaporation temperature and
the latent heat for evaporation are
only optional. Normally the
process temperatures shouldn’t
exceed them
For MBJ processes, only the
solidus and melting temperatures
are required since the T-t-curve is
given as boundary condition for all
nodes ◆ The Ac1 and Ac3 temperatures are not used in
For mechanical MPBF and Simufact Additive. Phase transformation is handled in
Machining processes, the thermal its own tab
solution isn’t solved. Therefore,
this tab can be ignored for these
processes

Mechanical Properties
The Young’s modulus and the
Poisson’s ratio are necessary for
MPBF and Machining processes
Thermomechanical: As long as an
element didn’t reach melting
temperature, its Young’s modulus
is scaled with the mechanical
scaling factor from the numerical
parameters
Mechanical: This approach takes ◆ The last four values are engineering values. These
the table values at 20°C for the values are not used for the simulation. The yield and
simulation, since the temperature tensile strength can be used to scale an existing flow
isn’t known. Because during curve in the flow curve tab
printing a large temperature range The ultimate strain is used to review the result
exists, it’s recommended to use value ‘Possible failure (brittle)‘ during postprocessing
constant mean values of MPBF and MBJ processes
The thermal expansion comes The tensile strength is used to review the result value
‘Possible failure (ductile)‘ during postprocessing of a
only into affect if the thermal
solution is calculated. MPBF process

Flow curves
◆ Flow curves describe the true
stress-strain curves and are
always needed to create a
material in Simufact Material. They
can be described as a function of
the temperature and the strain
rate, in analytical or tabular form
The sintering simulation of a MBJ
process is not affected by the flow
curve
For a Machining simulation the ◆ The flow curves are defined up to a max. effective
flow curve isn’t important, since plastic strain. After that, the solver keeps the stresses
only elastic relaxation happens constant
◆ For Simufact Additive, the strain For MPBF processes, a max. effective plastic strain of
rate dependency isn’t of interest 0,2 should be sufficient
For a thermomechanical MPBF If the fast simulation type is activated in the process
process, the temperature properties dialog, the material is considered linear
dependency needs to be defined elastic, hence the flow curve is not used

Anisotropy
◆ This tab is not used in Simufact
Additive
Orthotropic inherent strains or an
anisotropic volumetric expansion
factor are not solely material
properties, but rather process
properties and therefore aren’t
defined in the material card. For
more information, please refer to
the tutorial chapter ‘Introducing
the Inherent Strain Method’ and
following
Forming limit diagram, Damage, Electromagnetic properties, Microstructure,
Diffusion
◆ These tabs are not used in Simufact Additive
Phase transformation
If phase transformation is
activated in the process properties
dialog, the corresponding material
data is defined in this tab. This is
only available for a
thermal/thermomechanical MPBF
simulation
◆ S+ calculates the resulting phases
defined in the Leblond section. If
there is nothing defined, the CCT
diagram is used
◆ This data can only be imported
from JMATPRO™ and not be
created by the user
◆ Simulating the phase transformation might be necessary for maraging steel. The strains due to
phase transformation might surpass the strains due to cooling, resulting in positive inherent
strains. Cantilevers would bend downwards after they are cut. In theory the mechanical
approach can work with positive inherent strain values, but in reality, the phase transformation
are local phenomena that depend on the local cooling/ heating condition. This can only be
simulated with the thermal/ thermomechanical approach.

Phase transformation
It is now possible to add / remove
phases in phase transformation
card. Custom phases can also be
added.
◆ Editing phases in phase
transformation card has influences
on
▪ Thermal properties
▪ Mechanical properties
▪ Flow curves
▪ Electromagnetic properties
Creep
A creep law is needed if a
transient heat treatment or HIP
stage is simulated
◆ The creep strain rate can be
defined by analytical equations or
by a temperature dependent table
◆ The tables content can be
imported from JMATPRO™
◆ Please refer Tutorial chapter
‘Example: Heat Treatment’ for
application details on creep.
Sintering
This tab is only necessary for a
simulation of a MBJ process
◆ The viscosity can be defined
analytical or by a table
Tutorial
Postprocessing
Back to p.1
Postprocessing
Introduction
◆ In this chapter relevant steps for post processing simulation results are
explained. Important post values are highlighted. The following topics are
covered:
▪ Reviewing results
➢ Nodal results
➢ Histogram
➢ Clipping
➢ Vector results
▪ Relevant post value information
➢ Recoater contact
➢ Layer offset intensity
➢ Possible part failure (ductile / brittle)
▪ Advanced functionalities
➢ Stage progress plot
➢ Particle tracking,
➢ Multiple result views and synchronization,
➢ Exporting results

Postprocessing
General information
◆ As soon as initial results exist, the postprocessing tab can be accessed.
Click on the ‚Results‘ widget to switch to the result view: Note that
Simufact Additive
has different views
for the machine, the
Model view analysis and the
results widget:
Machine widget:
machine, base plate
and components are
displayed.
Result view
Analysis widget:
voxel and surface
mesh as well as the
boundary conditions
can be displayed.
Results widget:
Results can be
viewed for
◆ For further information, please refer to the infosheet postprocessing.
‚AnimationToolBar_en.pdf‘ linked at the bottom right of the animation tool
bar

Postprocessing
Result widget See infosheet
General_en.pdf for a
◆ In the result menu the user can select between surface and voxel results. more detailed
Voxel results are available for all increments, Surface results are only description of the
result widget and the
generated at the end of each stage. options in the
context menu.
The entry
„Additional“ is
currently only
available if base
Switch view plate fixations are
defined.
◆ In the context menu of both result types, several options are available. Note that a
For example a result transformation can be applied or the result export surface remesh of
the initial part can be
can be performed. performed even
after results are
available. The
results are then
directly mapped on
the new geometry, if
selected.
Alternatively, you
can map the results
to the surface mesh
in this context menu.

Postprocessing
Result widget: Shape comparison
◆ The shape comparison option allows to visualise geometric differences
between the final result and a reference geometry. By default the initial
geometry is used as reference. A best fit alignment for positioning both
geometries can be applied. Afterwards the surface deviation can be
For a more
displayed. detailed description
see infosheet
ShapeComparison_
en.pdf
a
Best fit To use a
different reference
b geometry add it to
c the additional
c c geometries section
in the machine
Visualize surface deviation widget. Afterwards it
will be available in
the shape
comparison menu.
Postprocessing
Result widget: Additional result Fixation
◆ If base plate fixations are defined the reaction forces at the fixations can
be accessed. Double click on ‚Fixations‘ to open a plot of the nodal
reaction forces at the fixations:
Postprocessing
Result values
◆ In the result view you have access to multiple result values. Result values
marked with this icon can additionally be viewed as a vector plot. The nodal results
can be evaluated
after opening the
query view:
Afterwards users
can select specific
nodes to see the
chosen result value
on that particular
node.
If you want to learn

more about all query
methods please
have a look at the
corresponding
Infosheet.

Postprocessing
Result values - Histogram
◆ Since version 2021.1 the legend of the result view also shows a
histogram of the result. It highlights the sum of nodes having that specific
result value and thereby improves interpretability.
Histogram
◆ Users can adapt the computation method of the histogram to their needs
by changing the histogram type in the color bar menu:
▪ Number of nodes
▪ Surface Area
▪ Volume
Postprocessing
Result values – Clipping planes
◆ Users can evaluate internal distributions of the result geometries by
creating one or multiple clipping planes. These can be created by clicking
the right-mouse-button on the background of a result view and selecting
the scissor icon.
◆ New clipping planes can be added by selecting in the clipping plane

view.
◆ You can find more detailed information for all clipping functionalities in the
corresponding Infosheet.

Postprocessing
Result value as a vector plot (1/3)
◆ To view results as a vector plot follow these steps:
Right click on color legend
Choose Show vector results
Postprocessing
◆ The results will be displayed as a vector plot:
Postprocessing
◆ You can change the appearance of the vector plot as follows:
Right click on color legend
Choose Vector settings
◆ The density of vectors as well as their length can be adjusted with the
sliders
Postprocessing
Post values - Recoater contact
◆ Recoater contact marks areas of the part/supports where the recoater
might get in contact with the part/supports.
The container
‚Manufacturing
issues‘ contains all
post values which
indicate issues
which may lead to
problems during the
manufacturing
process in reality.
◆ This is done by setting the AM z-layer displacement in relation with the
powder layer thickness
◆ In yellow areas the risk for recoater contact is increased, red areas are at
a high risk.

Postprocessing
Post values - Layer offset intensity
◆ The layer offset intensity displays possible shrink lines during the The layer offset
intensity results are
printing stage and specifies the intensity of these offsets. The higher the only available in
intensity, the higher the offset. printing increments.
You can view the

'layer offset intensity'
results in the surface
b mesh if you display
the voxel results of
the last increment,
switch to surface
results and if
necessary change
the values of the
color legend.
c
The color legend
can be used to filter
the layer offsets.
E.g. the upper
bound can be
decreased to 5E-6,
to increase the
sensitivity of this
result value.
a

Postprocessing
Post values - Possible failure (Stress based)
◆ Possible failure (stress based) shows possible cracks during the
process. It is suitable for ductile materials.
Red (High risk of

part failure), yellow
(Increased risk of
part failure) as well
as green (No part
failure) colors
indicate the level of
possible part failure.
◆ In case the result value is not displayed in the manufacturing issues
section, the yield strength and the tensile strength have to be edited in
the mechanical properties section of the powder material.

Postprocessing
Post values - Possible failure (Strain based)
◆ Possible failure (Strain based) shows possible cracks during the
process. It is suitable for brittle materials. Red (High risk of
part failure), yellow
(Increased risk of
part failure) as well
as green (No part
failure) colors
indicate the level of
possible part failure.
In case the
result value
‚Possible failure
(brittle)‘ is not
satisfiying, you can
define a user result
value, too. To do so
left-click in the menu
on Settings → User-
defined result values
or follow the
description provided
in this tutorial
◆ In case the result value is not displayed in the manufacturing issues chapter
section, the ultimate strain has to be defined in the mechanical properties
section of the powder material.

Postprocessing
Post values - Thermal boundary conditions
◆ Thermal boundary conditions shows the thermal boundary condition of
part, base plate and inbetween.
The red colour

between parts/
supports and
baseplate, and at
the bottom of
baseplate is the
contact status
between
parts/supports,
baseplate and
constraint plane for
base plate, not the
thermal boundary
condition in
between.
◆ The red colour indicates convection/radiation from parts/supports to
surrounding. The blue colour indicates adiabatic condition between
parts/supports and surrounding

Postprocessing
Defining ultimate strain, yield strength, tensile strength
◆ To define the mechanical properties required for the result values

possible failures, open the material properties and go to submenu The ultimate
Mechanical properties: strain can either be
defined by a table or
constant. The table
is dependend on the
temperature. The
ultimate strain can
also be defined as
none. In this case,
the result value
‚Possible failure‘ will
not be displayed in
a the color legend.
b
The ultimate
c strain values for all
materials from the
d material database
are already defined.
◆ Once the mechanical properties are fully defined, the result value
Possible failure (ductile) and (brittle) will appear in the color legend.

Postprocessing
Post values - AM-Layer z-Displacement
◆ AM-Layer z-Displacement shows the displacement of each single voxel
layer. The displacement is accumulated for one layer, starting when the
layer is activated until the next layer begins. Each layer starts with a
value of zero.
The container
‚Manufacturing
issues‘ contains all
post values which
indicate issues
which may lead to
problems during the
manufacturing
process in reality.
Postprocessing
Optional tensor results for strain
◆ In addition to the standard result values Equivalent elastic strain and

Effective plastic strain optional tensor results are available, such as
strains along the global coordinate system or principal strains.
◆ To review these result values, navigate to numerical parameters and
activate strain tensors before starting the solver.
For a detailed
list of the available
strain results see the
a infosheet
‚OutputResults_en.p
d df‘
c
b
◆ The additional values enable a more advanced result analysis but

increase the file size and may slightly slow down the calculation.
Postprocessing
Further important result values
◆ In addition to the values from the ‚manufacturing issues‘ section, several
other result values are of importance when post processing the
simulation results:
◆ The Peak Temperature can be used to ensure that the melting

temperature was reached at each point. A related result value is „Cold To learn more
and Hot spots‘, which marks temperature areas based on the peak about the
temperature results and a temperature range specified in the material postprocessing of
simulation results
properties. This post value is available only for thermal and also refer to the
thermomechanical analysis. example sections in
this tutorial.
◆ The Total Displacement is an important result value, too. It gives the

accumulated deformations and can hence be used to assess the final
geometry of the part. With the shape comparison feature the final
geometry can additionally be compared to a reference geometry.
◆ A further important result value is e.g. the Volume fraction which
specifies the percentage of the voxel filled by the geometry and therefore
allows to evaluate the quality of the mesh.

Postprocessing
User-defined result values (1/2)
◆ User-defined result values offer the possibility to define own result values
based on available results. This gives the user the possibility to contribute
his experience to the post-processing steps. They are defined by setting
the available results in relation to each other using arithmetic formulas,
condition statements, etc.
◆ For example a custom crack criterion can be defined or the recoater
contact can be adjusted to a more precise value, e.g. through scaling with
a factor known from reality. For more
◆ The result values are defined in the settings dialogue and are available in information refer to
the infosheet User-
the result view afterwards.To define a result value navigate to Settings definedResultValue_
en.pdf
b

Postprocessing
User-defined result values (2/2)
◆ To add a new result value navigate to user-defined result value tab and
click . In the opening dialog specify the name and (e), select existing
result values (f) and define the relation of these result values (g).
For more
d information refer to
the infosheet User-
definedResultValue_
en.pdf
e
For additive only
c result values are
availble but no time
–history result
f values
g

Postprocessing
Multiple result views: Synchronizing (1/2)
◆ It is possibile to open multiple result views at once. To open a second
view right click in the background and proceed as follows:
◆ In the new view, click on the synchronize button to configure the
synchronization of both views

Postprocessing
Multiple result views: Synchronizing (2/2)
◆ In the synchronizing option menu select all properties which should be
synchronized:
You can also use

this feature to view
the model from
different
perspectives at
once.
Simufact
Additive now offers
the possibility to
synchronize query
points.
◆ For example to display different result values in different views, uncheck
the ‚Result value‘ option.

Postprocessing
Stage history plot
◆ For some stages time-table-input is used to define the process. In the
result view, the user can evaluate where the current time step is located
in the overall process time.
◆ To see the time-temperature / time-pressure table in the result view
Stage history
plots are only
available for these
kind of processes:
• Heat treatment
• HIP
• Sintering
Postprocessing
Backward tracking with post particles
◆ The feature “Backward tracking with post particle” provides a flexible
method to track material flow in postprocessing. So called “post particles”
can be inserted at a certain position of the deformed workpiece after the
simulation to track the material flow and also local results.
◆ The post particles can be created with the query tool:
Particles are
points defined at the
geometry to track
material flow and
results (stress,
strain, temperature
a etc.). Results at the
points can be
analyzed using the
history plot.
b
Postprocessing
◆ Pick some nodes or points and click on THS plot:
a
b
◆ Depending on the amount of picked points or nodes, the backward
tracking may take some time. Please be patient.

Postprocessing
◆ Once the calculation of the post particles is done, the evaluation can be
done in the time history plot. Make sure to select „time history plot"
◆ For further information, please read the corresponding Infosheet.

Postprocessing
Exporting results
◆ The result export functionality allows the user to extract specific results
from the model. This view can only be activated after the first results have
been generated.
◆ Additive supports these export methods:
▪ UNV export
▪ Export results (as geometry)
▪ Export to machine
▪ Export CAD
◆ These dialogs can be found by selecting the surface/voxel result with the
RMB
◆ For further information, please read the corresponding Infosheets.

Tutorial
Example: Geometry Inspection
Back to p.1
Introduction
◆ This example will introduce you to the process ’Geometry Inspection’ with
a step by step tutorial of a project setup and some background
information.
◆ The process type ’Geometry Inspection’ allows you to directly compare a

scanned .stl body with the corresponding CAD file, calculate the surface
deviation between the two geometries and generate a new, compensated
geometry.
◆ For this process no time-consuming simulation is necessary, which

makes it very fast.
◆ The overall goal is to find an input geometry for a printing job, which
results in smaller deviations of the printed part compared to the original
geometry.
For demonstration purposes we don’t use a scanned body in this tutorial,
◆
but the deformed geometry of the aircraft component from the Quickstart
tutorial chapter.

Model setup
◆ Create a new project and chose ’Geometry Inspection‘ as process type in
the process properties dialog.
You can change every process type into ‘Geometry Inspection’ but be
aware that you can’t switch from a geometry inspection process into
another process type.

Model setup
◆ Now you need to import the geometries of the part and the reference.
The reference has to be the scanned/ deformed geometry and the part
the nominal/ undeformed geometry since it’s the undeformed body that
gets compensated.
◆ To import the part, right-click on ‘Parts’ and select import. The part is in
the following examples folder of your installation directory
If you copy a
▪ …\Simufact\additive\<version>\examples\metal_powder_bed_fusion\ calculated process
mechanical_build_stage\geometry_inspection\CAD- without results and
Data\01_aircraft_component.stp change the process
type to Geometry
Inspection, the part
is already defined
and only the
reference body has
to be loaded.
Model setup
◆ To import the reference, right-click on ‘Reference geometries’ and select
import.
▪ …\Simufact\additive\<version>\examples\
metal_powder_bed_fusion\mechanical_build_stage\geometry_inspec
tion\CAD-Data\ScannedResults.stl
Make sure to
during the import of
part and reference.
Model setup
◆ Now you should see both parts in the model view.
◆ As you can see, the parts are positioned differently in the model view. To
compare the part with the reference they need to be repositioned, so the
software can calculate a meaningful surface deviation. To do this, right
click on your part in the model view and select ‘Transformation’ →
‘Define’.

You can import
Model setup multiple reference
geometries. Then
◆ In the ‘Initial transformation’ dialog, you can choose between the make sure that the
transformation methods ‘Best fit’, ‘3-point definition’, ‘3-2-1 plane’ and correct reference is
selected at the
‘Cylindrical coordinate system’. bottom of the dialog.
◆ For the geometry inspection you need to choose the ‘Best fit’ method. For
this, click on the button for best fit transformation and then on the ‘Best-fit Sometimes, for
complex geometries
geometries’ button. and if the part and
◆ Now the part is positioned onto the reference by minimizing the distances reference have
between the surfaces of part and reference. highly different
positions, the best fit
◆ By clicking on the button next to your reference geometry selection, the algorithm might not
surface deviation is calculated and displayed. give good results at
first. Then you can
translate and rotate
the part manually
before the best fit.
a
For more
information
regarding the
b surface deviation,
please refer to the
infosheet
‘ShapeComparison’
c linked at the bottom
of this dialog.

Model setup
◆ To finally compensate your part, right-click on your part in the model view
again and select ‘Compensate’.
◆ In the following window you can select the reference geometry, the
compensation factor and you can display the surface deviation again.
◆ Click the ‘Compensate’ button with the default parameters. After the
The
compensation is completed, you can export your compensated geometry compensation factor
by clicking on ‘Export’. describes the factor
by which differences
in the geometry of
a part and reference
are being
compensated.
The export can

b be done in the
following file
formats.
Simulation with the compensated part
◆ Now we will proceed to start a simulation with the compensated part. This
is going to be the same as the “Example: Quickstart” tutorial but with the
new .stl-file we just saved.
◆ For this we will import the process with the calibrated aircraft component
as shown below.
◆ Now we need to replace the existing part with the compensated part we
just saved.
◆ From now on you will have to set up the model in the same way as
described in the “Example: Quickstart” tutorial. For this, please go back to
the mentioned tutorial.
◆ The model should look like this:
◆ Now you can run the simulation.

Postprocessing – comparison of both simulations
◆ To compare the results of the ‘compensated’ simulation with the results of
the ‘nominal CAD’ simulation, you can also import the same process
again and run the simulation without any changes.
◆ Your process tab should look like this:
You can also

import the
process with
results if available
or you can run the
simulation again.
◆ For the compensated simulation you will need to go to Additional

geometries and right-click on Reference geometries. Now we will select
01_aircraft_component.stp located in:
▪ …\Simufact\additive\<version>\examples\
metal_powder_bed_fusion\mechanical_build_stage\geometry_inspection\CAD-
Data\01_aircraft_component.stp
◆ We need this geometry to calculate and display meaningful surface
deviations.

a
c d
b
For the
◆ Go to Results and right-click on Surface results. Then select Shape Quickstart project
comparison. In the Transformation section switch to Surface deviation. you don‘t need to
For the reference geometry of the ‘compensated’ simulation we will select import any reference
geometry, as the
01_aircraft_component and best-fit both results by clicking on the blue reference is the
arrow. For a better comparison visualize the surface deviation as well. initial part geometry.
Select initial shape
as the reference in
the Shape
comparison window.
◆ The final comparison should look like this:
Compensated geometry Default geometry
◆ We can see that the compensated geometry has a lower surface

deviation than the CAD geometry. This happens due to the pre-
deformation of the compensated geometry.
Tutorial
Scripting Capabilities
Back to p.1
Scripting
Introduction
◆ Since version 2020 FP1, simufact Additive contains an interpreter of
python (currently 3.9.6) which can be used to create or edit models
automatically.
◆ Additive therefore comes with its own python environment, you don‘t
have to install any additional software, but users have the possibility to
add additional python packages as required.
◆ There is an interactive Python console available, which can be opened

from the initial start window or the project window:
Scripting
Console overview
1
2
3
4
5
6
1.
1 Selecting and executing a precompiled script file.
2.
2 Button for clearing the output window.
3.
3 Cancel current script execution.
4.
4 Open the tutorial chapter.
5.
5 Reference - lists all available classes, methods and objects.
6.
6 Direct Input field:
Type Python commands here and press return to execute them. Use the up
and down keys to browse the history of previously executed commands. The
input field also supports multi-line input.
Scripting
How to run your code
◆ Seperate lines of code can be executed using the python console within
the software.
◆ Precompiled scripts can be executed in two different ways:

▪ From within Additive GUI (open or drag & drop file into terminal):
▪ If you don‘t want to interact with the GUI at all, you can run the script
remotely by passing the following system command:
"C:\Program Files\simufact\additive\<version>\bin\runscript.bat" script.py
➢ Add the parameter „-q“ to this command, if you want to disable the UI for
the execution of this script.

Scripting
Simufact Additive module
◆ The Simufact Additive scripting module already contains a lot of functions
and classes to edit the model and its objects.
◆ All available classes and objects are documented in the scripting
reference.
◆ These objects are organized in a tree that matches the object trees
visible in the GUI. A Project object represents the root of this tree. Further
information can be found in the example at the end of this chapter and
the scripting reference.
3rd party modules

◆ You can use the Python package installer “pip” to install additional 3rd-
party Python packages for use in Simufact Additive:
"C:\Program Files\simufact\additive\<version>\python\pip.bat" install somepackage
◆ In addition to the Python standard library Simufact Additive comes with a

number of pre-installed Python packages including NumPy and Pandas.
To get a full list of the installed third-party packages execute the following
command:
"C:\Program Files\simufact\additive\<version>\python\pip.bat" list

Scripting
Example – Recreating demo model engine bracket
◆ Running the example script
“C:\Program
Files\simufact\additive\<version>\examples\python_scripting\Scripting_demo_01_Preprocessin
g.py”
will recreate the engine bracket model from our Demos & Examples. We
will take a look at some lines of code to get familiar with the scripting
environment.
Please note that

◆ Define header and import simufact module: you have to run
#!/usr/bin/env python Simufact Additive as
# coding: utf-8 administrator to run
# Import simufact module the example script.
import simufact Alternatively, you
can change the path
◆ Create new project and process: in the script where
# Create new project - Name: TestModel, Path: the sample model
proj = simufact.additive.new_project("TestModel", r"C:\Program should be created.
Files\simufact\additive\<version>\examples\python_scripting")
# Create new process
proc = proj.new_process("Testprocess", "MetalPowderBedFusion")
◆ Delete initial process:
# Delete initial process
proc_old = proj.all_processes[0]
proj.delete_process(proc_old.name)

Scripting
◆ Organize Stages:
# Organize Stages
# Create Stages object
stages = proc.all_stages()
# Delete unwanted stages
proc.delete_immediate_release_stage()
proc.delete_stage(stages[2])
# Create new stages
proc.create_cutting_stage()
proc.create_support_removal_stage()
◆ Import part and material:
# Import part from D&E

proc.import_part(r'C:\Program
Files\simufact\additive\<version>\examples\metal_p
owder_bed_fusion\mechanical_build_stage\engine_bra
cket\CAD-Data\engine_bracket.stl’, unit='m')
# Create Part object
part = proc.all_parts[0]
# Import material
proc.import_material_from_library("IN-718_powder")

Scripting
◆ Create supports for the bracket:
# Choose support group
SupGrp = part.all_support_groups[0]
# Create support parameter object
SupParams = SupGrp.support_parameters_cads()
SupParams.types = ('Block',)
# Assign parameter to group object
SupGrp.support_parameters = SupParams
# Create supports for part
SupGrp.generate_supports()
◆ Define cutting height:

# Cutting stage
CutStage = proc.all_cutting_stages[0]
# Set cutting heigt to 4 mm
CutStage.height = 4
◆ Add support group to support removing stage:

# Support removal stages
SupRemStage = proc.all_support_removal_stages[0]
# Add support group to support removal stages
SupRemStage.append([SupGrp])
Scripting
◆ Create voxel parameter and invoke meshing:
# Create voxel mesh
vox_mesh_params = proc.voxel_meshing_parameters
vox_mesh_params.voxel_size_x = 1.5
vox_mesh_params.voxel_size_y = 1.5
vox_mesh_params.voxel_size_z = 1.5
vox_mesh_params.coarsening = 2
proc.generate_voxel_mesh(vox_mesh_params)
◆ Define inherent strain values:

# Build stage
BuildStage = proc.build_stage
# Create object for mechanical build parameters
Mechanical_build_parameters = BuildStage.mechanical_build_parameters
# Change inherent strain values
Mechanical_build_parameters.inherent_strains = (-0.0026, -0.0012, -0.01)
# Assign pamameter object to build stage
BuildStage.mechanical_build_parameters = Mechanical_build_parameters
◆ Save project, write .dat file and start the solver directly:
proj.save()
proc.write_dat()
analysis = proc.start_analysis()

Scripting
Example – Postprocessing
◆ In a second example we will use the scripting API to run predefined
postprocessing of the previous examples results. The script will be
executed within Simufact Additive hence the model needs to be opened.
◆ Define header and import simufact module:
#!/usr/bin/env python
# coding: utf-8
# Import simufact module
import simufact
◆ Select project and process:
# Select project
proj = simufact.additive.current_project()
# Select new process
proc = proj.all_processes[0]
# Get component
comp = proc.all_parts[0]
◆ Select last increment and get mesh:
# Choose last increment
last_inc = proc.results[-1]
# Get mesh of component in last increment
result_msh = last_inc.mesh(comp.name, type='surface')
◆ Print nodal result of specific node on result mesh:
# Access to a node (no 13262) result value of Total displacement
node_values = result_msh.node_results("TOTDISP",'mm')
value = node_values[13261]
print(value)

Tutorial
Nexus
Back to p.1
Nexus
Nexus by Hexagon
The manufacturing world of the future
Nexus is an open platform that enhances smart manufacturing collaboration by

connecting people, technologies and data, accelerating innovation and time to market.
https://nexus.hexagon.com/
Nexus will be the foundation for Hexagon’s new offerings in the smart manufacturing space. We have developed a first release of
Nexus and there is a strategic roadmap in place for the platform to better serve the needs of our customers and partners.
Nexus
What Nexus offers?
The manufacturing world of the future
Nexus helps connect people with data from across the enterprise to make processes smarter. Our vision is to
support the product lifecycle from ideation to maintenance, but today we are starting by leveraging the data
sources we own including simulation, production, metrology and quality. In time, Nexus will enable the seamless
use of data from the other products involved in the product lifecycle.
Nexus has two main components:
It underpins the advanced functionality within Nexus, initially offering a new and more interactive way for teams to explore and enhance
Hexagon products, find software, hardware, training and support; and developing into an open collaboration platform to simplify
connectivity across product manufacturing – from ideation, design, simulations, production to operations and maintenance.
These are offerings developed by Hexagon and its technology partner network to address specific challenges in various stages of the
manufacturing process. Nexus will be the foundation for Hexagon’s new offerings in the smart manufacturing space. We haven
developed a first release of Nexus and there is a strategic roadmap in place for the platform to better serve the needs of our customers
and partners.
Nexus
Nexus AM Metal Powder Bed Fusion
First release
Additive manufacturing (AM) E2E workflows in general involves multiple phases. Some of them are:
• Generative design
• Performance analysis
• Build Preparation
• AM process simulation
• Compensation and Machining
• Print job preparation
• Production
• Quality inspection and more..
Hexagon MI caters to these user needs with its wide portfolio of products which can be now connected through
the Nexus Platform. Nexus also has the capability to connect with third party products e.g. AM Studio by CADS
Additive.
First hand, we developed a MVP workflow, connecting four different products together via Nexus, to provide a
minimal but combined solution for Metal Powder Bed Fusion process chain.
We picked the most important phases of the entire AM workflow for this functional preview (MVP) to allow
multiple feedback loops with our trusted customers for a reliable solution.
This release is a functional prototype which opens doors to an explorable future. More
attractive features with better user experience will be available in the upcoming final
releases.

Nexus
Nexus AM Metal Powder Bed Fusion
First release
Generative Build AM process Job preparation

design preparation simulation Slicing & Nesting
Nexus Materials
Connect
Apex GD AM Studio Simufact Additive AM Studio
Supports only one unique part per project

Nexus
Pre-requisites
Connecting to Nexus Platform
Customers obtain their login credentials by signing up via the Nexus

Customer Portal to test the connected solution. For further information,
contact your company account manager to create a user account in Nexus
and apply for trial product licenses.
We have integrated Nexus into our installers which means one can follow the
regular installation instructions to connect to Nexus without any additional
action.
Nexus connectivity is a premium feature added to the first release connected

products. Hence, there are no requirements to have additional licenses to use
Nexus functionalities along with the regular product licenses.
Please use the ‚Get help‘ page in the Nexus Portal to submit your queries
regarding Nexus:
https://nexus.hexagon.com/home/product/simufact-additive/#support-downloads
Only Metal Powder Bed Fusion module can be connected to Nexus

Nexus
Logging into Nexus Platform
via embedded browser in Simufact Additive
Users need to log-in with their Nexus credentials to connect to the Nexus Platform, which is the gateway to
enter into the Additive manufacturing workflow.
Nexus
• The embedded browser in S+ is

Enter your login credentials Access your project list
based on CEF and displays the
overview of the projects saved in
Nexus.
• One can create, change the cover,

rename, share or delete a project via
Nexus platform.
Login to work on your Additive

projects in Nexus
Nexus
via Web browser
Copy the URL in your browser and login Access your project list on web
https://nexus.hexagon.com/platform/
Access Nexus platform through standard Web browsers

Nexus
Creating a Nexus Project
• Once you have

access to the Nexus
Click on ‚Add project‘ Select ‘Design and Additive A new project is created as
Platform, you can Manufacturing‘ and add a name ‚Nexus_WN‘
begin creating your
project.
• To create an AM
project in Nexus, one
has to choose the
‚Design and Additive
Manufacturing‘
project type.
• We assume you
would like to start
working with MSC
Apex Generative
Design in the AM
workflow to start
designing the part.
Apex GD
2022.4

Nexus
Creating a Nexus Project
via Web Browser
Select ‘Design and Additive Manufacturing‘ and add a name A new project is created as ‚Nexus_WN‘
Embedded browser and Web browser are

automatically synchronised.
Nexus
Open a Nexus Project newly in S+
via Simufact Additive embedded browser
Click on the project you want to

open in S+
• To work on a Nexus
project in any of the
connected products,
you have to save the
project locally.
• The GUI will ask you

to save the project in
your local disk once
you open a Nexus
project for the first
time in Simufact
Additive.
Nexus
Open a Nexus Project newly in S+
via Simufact Additive embedded browser
The project name is adapted automatically and file location can be selected The project is saved and the Nexus cloud
data is automatically synced locally
Nexus
Open a saved Nexus Project in S+
Two ways
Open your Nexus project from ‚Recent projects‘ Choose your project directly from ist directory
indicated by the Nexus icon
OR
Nexus
Identify if your project is Nexus connected
Via logos
A Nexus connected local project always shows the Nexus by Hexagon widget
A standard Simufact Additive project always shows the Hexagon logo
Your user logo can be added as before. The nexus

widget is never part of any movie file or saved image
Nexus
Open a saved Nexus Project in S+
local synchronization of Nexus data
Opening a saved Nexus project locally automatically The remote state is automatically
connects to Nexus if already logged in synchronized with local state
Nexus
Material selection
via Nexus Materials Connect
Nexus Materials Connect is the Material database Select your material from the Nexus Materials
used for material selection within Nexus projects Connect database via the embedded browser in S+
https://nexus.hexagon.com/materials-connect/
Nexus
Material selection
via Nexus Materials Connect
Sync your Nexus project to read the View the corresponding material properties
selected material into the GUI in Simufact Material in read only mode
Nexus
Synchronisation and conflicts
Handling
• Working collaboratively with different connected products and multiple
users leads to
• swift exchange of data
• rapid changes in the Cloud.
• Hexagon used Microsoft’s Fluid framework to exchange this data in

lightning speed.
• Multiple users, sharing and working on the same Nexus project, can
therefore manipulate a specific parameter (e.g. Material) in the Cloud
via any connected product.
• The last modification made in Cloud is saved and synchronized always

with other collaborators working on the project. This means, the last
user change could replace the existing remote/cloud state.
• BUT at times, one change in the project by a collaborator could be

conflicting to few other collaborators working on the same project.
• Such conflicts are notified to the user when synchronized and the user
can manually decide if he/she wants to proceed with the new state of
the project.

Nexus
Synchronization and conflicts
Status indicator
Remote state (Cloud) is synchronised with local state (GUI) Remote state (Cloud) is NOT synchronised with local state (GUI)
Nexus
Synchronization and conflicts
Manual synchronization
Current State: In Sync Current State: Not in Sync Current State: Not in Sync
No action required Sync: Synchronise ALL changes Sync: Synchronise ALL changes
(download and upload) (download and upload)
Push changes: Local data is not Pull changes: Cloud data is not
in sync with Cloud. By clicking, in sync with the local data. By
only the local changes are clicking, only the cloud changes
are downloaded locally.
uploaded to Cloud.
Sync with Cloud when desired to not

disturb your current work

Nexus
SDC Debugger
For debugging
Project Details Debugger

https://nexus.hexagon.com/platform/project/<ContainerID> https://nexus.hexagon.com/debugger/#<ContainerID>
Debug the data available in Nexus

Nexus
AM Simulation
Work on your project to simulate the build
Complete your work and start the simulation View results and proceed with Slicing
AM Studio

Nexus
AM Simulation
Activated Optimization tools
Distortion Compensation: Support Optimization:
• One can also compensate the distortions of the • One can also optimize supports and uploads the
simulated part and share the compensated part support structures to the Cloud.
geometry with Nexus cloud. • The best variant out of the Optimization variants is
• The best variant out of the Distortion compensation selected and exported as optimized Support
results is selected and exported automatically to structures.
Cloud.
• ‚Compensated part‘ indicates if the compensated
part is available additionally in Nexus cloud.
AM Studio

Nexus
Limitations
Known issues
• Only Metal Powder Bed Fusion module can be connected with Nexus.
• Only one unique part can be simulated in a Nexus connected project.
• Only the first process from an Additive project is currently connected to the cloud.
• Only manual synchronization is possible currently.
• The native project database is not saved in cloud.
• Only some parameters are currently shared in cloud, they are:
• Part, supports and base plate geometries
• Machine data
• Build parameters
• Build time and costs
• Material edit, import and export via GUI are not possible in a Nexus connected project.
• Cloud data is not versioned to revert to a previous state.
• A local Additive project cannot be uploaded or connected to Nexus. Projects have to be initially created in the
Nexus Platform.
More attractive features will be in the final release. Pilot has laid the backend foundation
to work on more features for a much better user experience in the final release

Nexus
FAQ
Q: How can I get started with Nexus?
Sign up to Nexus to create a user account via the Nexus Portal https://nexus.hexagon.com/. Please be
patient until the official launch.
Q: When is the Nexus launch planned?

Q1 2023- Please stay tuned.
Q: How do I log into Nexus Platform?

Once you have a Nexus account, you can use the same log-in credentials to log into Nexus Platform
https://nexus.hexagon.com/platform/
Q: What does Nexus AM MPBF connected workflow stand for?

Nexus Additive Manufacturing Metal Powder Bed Fusion connected workflow.
Q: How can I get started with the Nexus AM MPBF connected solution?
You need a Nexus account, the Products installers and necessary licenses as pre-requisites. Every
Product is shipped with an additional Nexus Guide in the Documentation which helps you get started.
Q: Can I request trainings or demos to try out the connected solution?
Yes, please use our ‚Get Help‘ page to request trainings or demos. We will be more than happy to
help.

Nexus
FAQ
Q: Do I require all the connected products installed to create a Nexus project?
No, you can create a project via Nexus Platform without any installation. You may have to install the
product to continue working on a project and populate data into Nexus for consumption by other
collaborators. The point solutions can be used individually and connected to Nexus platform
Q: Where can I find the installers?

You can download the installers from the MSC Solution Download Center after official release of the
products.
Q: How do I get licenses?

Please contact your company account manager to request licenses.
Q: Does the connected solution have a pre-defined workflow?

No, Nexus is data-centric and the connected solution does not follow any pre-defined (linear)
workflow. One can begin working on a project via any connected product at any point in time to suit
one‘s desired workflow.
Q: Can I share a Nexus project with externals?
You as the project owner can share your project with any Nexus account holders and restrict access
rights as desired.

Nexus
FAQ
Q: Do I always need an internet connection to exchange data?
Yes, Nexus is cloud-based and you need an internet connection to synchronize data with the cloud.
Q: Can collaborators work on a Nexus project simultaneously?

Yes, and Nexus aims at collaboration. The last made modification on the Nexus project will be always
synchronized.
Q: How do I use my materials in a Nexus project?

You may have to go to Nexus Materials Connect https://nexus.hexagon.com/materials-connect to
upload your material database to Nexus. Please ensure that your sub-class is set as powder/baseplate
to find them in your Material selection of your Nexus project.
Q: What does the Sync, Push and Pull changes mean?

‚Push changes‘ helps you upload the local data to Nexus while ‚Pull changes‘ helps you download the
Nexus data locally. ‚Sync‘ helps to synchronize the data in both directions.
Q: How long would it take to upload large models with a stable internet connection?
We use the Microsoft’s fluid framework to exchange data swiftly helping you to upload/download
data at high speed.

Nexus
FAQ
Q: How do I know if my data is uploaded correctly?
The Project details are updated once you upload data from a local connected project. For debugging
purposes, one can use the SDC Debugger by copying the project‘s container ID to the URL:
https://nexus.hexagon.com/debugger/#<ContainerID>
Q: Does AM MPBF connected solution support multiple unique parts?

Only one unique part and its nested instances are supported in the first release. We will extend it in
the upcoming releases.
Q: Can I share results for team review to Nexus?

Yes, you can share some results to Nexus which can be visualized using the Nexus 3D Whiteboard for
team review.
Q: Can I share a compensated geometry for the final job preparation?

Yes, you can upload it and it will be automatically consumed by Am-Studio for build preparation.
Q: Can I download the build or print files from the Nexus Platform?
Yes, if the build files are available in Nexus.
Q: Can I upload the native project database to Nexus?
Not at the moment, this will be possible in future releases

Nexus
FAQ
Q: I uploaded a part to Nexus yesterday and I do not see it after synchronization today. What could have
happened?
A bad or lost internet connection should have aborted your upload.
Another collaborator could have deleted/manipulated your part.
Q: I am not able to connect to my Nexus project. What should I do?

Please check your internet connection.
Ensure the project is not missing in you Project dashboard.
Please check if the owner has deleted your project from the Nexus Platform.
Please check the LOG of your product for error codes and contact the support.
Q: Upload takes a longer time than usual. What should I do?

Please check your internet connection, unstable network connection can slow down the upload.
Q: I am not able to share my project with another collaborator. Editing rights won’t suffice?
No, only the project owner can share a project with others. Editing rights only allow you to change the
project content.
Q: I am not able to view my material database in the ‘Material Selection’. I already imported it to
Materials Connect, what should I do?
Please ensure the sub-class is set as ‘Powder’ for powder materials and ‘Baseplate’ for baseplate
materials. Also make sure you selected the right database for selection.

Simufact Additive 2023.4 Introducing Simufact Additive

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Simufact Additive 2023.4 Introducing Simufact Additive

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Simufact Additive 2023.4 Introducing Simufact Additive

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Tutorial

3Dconnexion and SpaceDevice are registered trademarks of 3Dconnexion Inc.

All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Simufact Additive Tutorial 3

Introducing Simufact Additive

Direct Energy Deposition

◆ Simulation of 3D-printing Powder Bed Methods with

Simufact Additive Tutorial 5

➢ Possible Build Job Abortion

➢ Losing Time & Money 

Simufact Additive Tutorial 6

➢ Reduce Trial & Error

Metal powder Metal binder Geometry Metal powder

Simufact Additive Tutorial 8

We aim at covering a wide range of the AM process chain:

Simufact Additive Tutorial 9

Nexus is an open platform that enhances smart manufacturing collaboration by connecting

Simufact Additive Tutorial 10

Result value shown: Equivalent stress

Simufact Additive Tutorial 11

Simufact Additive Tutorial 12

BENEFIT Unsuitable for

Simufact Additive Tutorial 16

◆ We have created a video where a complete set up of a printing process

Simufact Additive Tutorial 18

Simufact Additive Tutorial 20

◆ Create or open a project.

Simufact Additive Tutorial 21

Machine Manufacturing Analysis Results

GUI workflow example

Simufact Additive Tutorial 22

Simufact Additive Tutorial 23

Simufact Additive Tutorial 24

Simufact Additive Tutorial 25

Simufact Additive Tutorial 26

Distortion compensation: Run multiple subsequent simulations that

Simufact Additive Tutorial 28

Simufact Additive Tutorial 29

Export to machine: Export the scan trajectories of the build job

Simufact Additive Tutorial 30

In the result view provides several options:

Simufact Additive Tutorial 31

Restart the analysis with changed parameters

Simufact Additive Tutorial 32

Find the path for

Simufact Additive Tutorial 33

You can find the

Simufact Additive Tutorial 36

▪ Please click on the ‘Machine’ widget You can access

The table below

Simufact Additive Tutorial 39

Simufact Additive Tutorial 40

You can also

Simufact Additive Tutorial 41

Space for the

Simufact Additive Tutorial 43

Please note that

Simufact Additive Tutorial 47

You will note that

◆ Select AlSi10Mg_baseplate and confirm with OK.