As metal AM continues to mature into a fully industrialised production technology, manufacturing and part qualification processes must increasingly be supported by physics-based models, as they are in other advanced industries. Production AM cannot rely on experimental trial-and-error, particularly when parts are expensive and required to perform reliably in demanding end-use applications.

(15th September 2026, State College, Pennsylvania, USA) PanOptimization has welcomed AMCM GmbH's announcement of an integration between EOSPRINT and PanX, describing it as an important step toward making physics-based simulation a practical, embedded part of industrial metal additive manufacturing workflows.

"Especially for the large and complex applications our customers manufacture on the AMCM M 4K and M 8K, thermomechanical simulation is a key tool to counteract overheating and thermally induced distortion. By integrating PanX directly into EOSPRINT, we can seamlessly optimize thermal management and build strategies before production begins." says Tobias Petzinger, Application Specialist at AMCM GmbH.

As metal AM continues to mature into a fully industrialised production technology, manufacturing and part qualification processes must increasingly be supported by physics-based models, as they are in other advanced industries. Production AM cannot rely on experimental trial-and-error, particularly when parts are expensive and required to perform reliably in demanding end-use applications.

"AM is moving into a phase where simulation has to become a standard part of the manufacturing process" says Erik Denlinger, Co-Founder and Chief Engineer at PanOptimization. "If manufacturers want to print and qualify high-value metal AM parts with confidence, they need physics-based models that help them understand and optimize what will happen before the build begins."

PanX can be used as a stand-alone thermomechanical simulation tool alongside any metl AM system. However, integrations such as the link between EOSPRINT and PanX are especially important because they help bring simulation directly into the build preparation workflow.

The integration works by first reading an openjz file from EOSPRINT into PanX and extracting all build setup information, including the geometries, build plate layout, and processing parameters, needed for a simulation. Additional information not included in the openjz, but still needed for accurate simulation (e.g. processing time per layer) are brought into PanX by use of the EOSPRINT API. This removes redundant and error-prone set-up work, supports turnaround times measured in hours, and makes simulation more accessible to design and manufacturing engineers rather than only dedicated simulation experts. It also improves model accuracy by incorporating high-fidelity printer-specific information.

After a simulation is complete, optimized dwell times, compensated geometries, and optimized laser powers (written as a TIFF image stack and corresponding Smart Fusion Replay file) are automatically written back into the openjz file where they can be seamlessly implemented on the printer. The EOSPRINT/PanX integration is beneficial for all EOS users, from those running M290-class systems through to users of the AMCM M 8K.

AMCM recently demonstrated these benefits on a large M 8K build, highlighting how local heat accumulation can lead to distortion and dimensional deviations, residual stress and internal defects, reduced part quality, partially sintered powder, and difficult de-powdering. Thermal simulation helps identify hotspots before the build starts, makes critical areas visible, and enables overheating to be addressed before it impacts part quality.

"No amount of density-cube or tensile-bar testing can solve these problems, as they are highly geometry- and thermal-history-dependent," says Denlinger. "That is why simulation is needed ."
For PanOptimization, the AMCM integration illustrates the broader vision for PanX, advanced hardware, intelligent build preparation, and physics-based simulation working together to make metal AM more predictable, repeatable, and qualifiable.
www.panoptimization.com