Zurich, Switzerland, March 20, 2012: AutoForm Engineering GmbH, the leading supplier of software solutions for the sheet metal forming industry, has enhanced its hydroforming products. AutoForm Hydroforming contains innovative functionalities for the rapid analysis and simulation of the entire hydroforming process. The software excels at a new level of accuracy and speed.

AutoForm’s focus on accurate results and short computation times has led to these latest innovations specifically developed for AutoForm Hydroforming customers. One important new feature is the support of cutting process steps. As a result, tube length can be optimized and the forming of tube ends as well as the complete forming process can be simulated. Two cutting types are available: plane cut and laser cut for tube ends trimming and holes piercing.

The AutoForm hydro solver now supports parallel computing achieving significant speed-up levels (comparable to AutoForm’s incremental solver). At the same time, the number of licenses needed to perform parallel execution has been reduced, offering the user the advantage of multiprocessing at lower cost. The shared memory multiprocessing (SMP) hydro solver is available for 2, 3, 4 and 8 cores. Furthermore, improved and more robust mesh refinement algorithms increase the accuracy of the results. Stress in thickness direction is taken into account allowing for better evaluation of critical areas and more accurate results for thick tubes. Pressure dependent friction is supported, which further enhances accuracy. In addition, the hydro solver has a new simulation status dialog which provides immediate feedback and helps to prevent misinterpretation of the result files.

Dr. Markus Thomma, Corporate Marketing Director of AutoForm Engineering, stated: “Hydroforming technology is widely used in the production of complex lightweight components. AutoForm has invested much time and effort in this technology and has enhanced its hydroforming products. AutoForm Hydroforming customers can now take advantage of increased efficiency of hydroforming simulation, lower cost for parallel computing on multi-cores and improved simulation accuracy.”

About AutoForm Engineering GmbH

AutoForm offers software solutions for the die-making and sheet metal forming industries along the entire process chain. With 250 employees dedicated to this field, AutoForm is recognized as the leading provider of software for product manufacturability, tool and material cost calculation, die face design and virtual process optimization. All of the Top 20 automotive OEMs and most of their suppliers have selected AutoForm as their software of choice. Besides its headquarters in Switzerland, AutoForm has offices in Germany, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, USA, Mexico, Brazil, India, China, Japan and Korea. AutoForm is also present through its agents in more than 15 other countries. For detailed information please visit: www.autoform.com

Contact

Dr. Markus Thomma
Corporate Marketing Director
AutoForm Engineering GmbH
Switzerland
Phone:  +41 43 444 61 61
Email:   markus.thomma@autoform.ch
www.autoform.com