Dormer tapping into tool simulation

AdvantEdge is claimed to be the only Dynamic 3-D FEM/FEA tool available for tapping in the world today, and Dormer are currently using it to develop a new line of taps for heat-resistant materials, scheduled for launch towards the end of 2010. "AdvantEdge reduces the number of test tools that need to be made in real life. This in turn reduces costs and speeds up the process significantly. And a huge amount of data can be gathered, removing all guesswork from the process. It enables the testing of 'what-if' scenarios that would otherwise be very difficult to perform in reality," explained Anders Theorin, design engineer at Dormer Sweden. "The end product is quite simply a better tool to cut materials like titanium, inconel, stainless steel and other super alloys. Machining these materials can be expensive, and every second saved or every hole tapped without breaking the tool is worth a lot of time and money to customers." Traditionally, tapping is much more difficult to simulate due to the three-dimensional geometry of thread-cutting. However, Dormer's research and development site in Halmstad, Sweden, in co-operation with Third Wave Systems of Minneapolis, USA, has developed the tapping simulation tool. AdvantEdge is a finite element modeling (FEM) and finite element analysis (FEA) software package used by the aerospace industry, to simulate their machining requirements in a virtual world, replacing the 'trial-and-error' method of testing.