The main exhibit of the year is "FingerKit": five Fraunhofer Institutes developed a process chain for customized, certified finger joint implants. A showcase and a 3D hand model illustrate the process and product.
From material to component with system
Materials research provides answers to current questions in the fields of energy, health, mobility, information and communication technologies, construction and housing. Modern lightweight construction materials save costs and energy, ceramic micro fuel cells supply electronic devices, and new materials made from renewable resources help to protect the environment.
In the field of additive manufacturing, the institutes of the Competence Field focus on the development of new materials, technology-specific material adaptation and production as well as the generation of desired product properties with the following materials:
- metals: steels, titanium and aluminum,
- ceramics: oxides, carbides, silicates and bioactive ceramics as well as
- plastics: polymers and thermoplastic materials.
In addition, the Fraunhofer Competence Field Additive Manufacturing offers you individually adapted materials for your applications, individual processes and entire process chains - also considering conventional technologies.
Production - from idea to market launch
When developing a product, companies are confronted with rapidly changing markets. For holistic production processes, it is important to analyze precisely all processes and technologies involved in the product lifecycle - from product development to production and logistics. Moreover, production processes have to be optimally synchronized with one another.
The institutes of the Fraunhofer Competence Field Additive Manufacturing develop new applications by considering all current additive manufacturing technologies. In addition, we offer special systems and comprehensive hardware and software solutions for the following processes:
- Laser-based processes - metals and plastics,
- 3D printing technologies - ceramics and photopolymers as well as
- Process chains and subsequent processes.
The Fraunhofer Competence Field Additive Manufacturing offers you well-engineered and reproducible processes as well as individually adapted systems for your applications and products.
Solutions for man and machine
Using nature as a model, researchers develop ideas and products that can be specifically adapted to environmental conditions. In this way, the behavior of mechanical structures can be specifically influenced: Reducing weight, increasing stiffness or actively controlling the shape. The right design methodology, applied in early phases of the development process, delivers major advances in terms of product quality.
From the concept idea to the prototype to the product release, the alliance institutes support you in the design and method-supported product and process development:
- Product design - Bionic and aesthetic design as well as
- Product development - Methods and tools.
The Fraunhofer Competence Field Additive Manufacturing supports you in the design and optimization of your (new) products, in the application and company-related adaptation of modern virtual and physical prototypes, and in the design of your production processes.
Making quality visible
To improve the reliability and shape accuracy of all additively manufactured products, we develop individual safety systems for your entire product development process:
- Products and processes - reproducible processes & dimensionally accurate products as well as
- Quality management in the production chain - reliability & shape accuracy.
The Fraunhofer Competence Field Additive Manufacturing supports you with its many years of cross-industry knowledge in the integration of quality assurance tools and in the development and optimization of your quality management system.
Make additive methods calculable, control additive methods
Additive manufacturing is closely linked to the digital control of the manufacturing process: Components are manufactured directly on the basis of a digital representation. The Fraunhofer Competence Field Additive Manufacturing develops algorithms to control additive manufacturing processes, for example to specifically design the optical properties of components, or to simulate individual process steps, e.g. to derive measures to reduce residual stresses and distortion.
