Trade Forum Industrializing Additive Manufacturing

The latest developments in Additive Manufacturing and the scope for, and limitations on, their use in industry will be discussed in the new “3D Metal Printing” trade forum at Rapid.Tech.

Various applications in fields such as aviation and medical engineering illustrate that additive manufacturing processes offer completely new levels regarding product design, efficiency, speed and flexibility in the production of series parts. It is therefore hardly surprising that growing numbers of companies are investigating the industrial use of AM technologies. However, standards in series production are significantly more rigorous than in prototyping. “IT integration in product life cycle management (PLM), continuous processes from concept to finished component and reproducibility are fundamental prerequisites for industrialization,” explains Helmut Zeyn, Business Development Additive Manufacturing at Siemens Industry Software GmbH. The AM expert will discuss these challenges in his keynote lecture on the first day of this year’s Rapid.Tech (14–16 June) in Erfurt. Helmut Zeyn will also present innovative developments that enable manufacturers seeking to integrate AM processes into existing production lines to meet the requirements of modern series production for process reliability, process monitoring, traceability and data exchange.

Presentations at Rapid.Tech

The different trade forums will start after the keynote presentation. In the inaugural “3D Metal Printing” trade forum, the introductory talk by Jannis Kranz of Materialise will examine the potential for producing metal components, including parts with hollow, lattice or protruding structures. Simon Höges of GKN Sinter Metals Engineering GmbH will present water atomization as a cost-effective alternative to the more conventional gas atomization of metal powders. The expanding range of metal powders on the market is also a key factor, as Dr.-Ing Matthias Gieseke of Laserzentrum Hannover e.V. will highlight when he discusses the use of selective laser melting (SLM) of the first magnesium powder, Elektron MAP 43, in lightweight designs. Challenges and solution approaches of additive manufacturing with metals in series production will be discussed by Oliver Kaczmarzik of Concept Laser GmbH. Both the medical technology and aviation sectors use electron beam melting (EBM) in the production of series parts.

One of the firms meeting the resulting increase in demand for process and quality control solutions is the Swedish company Arcam AB, and Patrick Ohldin will be on hand to present some of its innovative developments. Clemens Lieberwirth from the Department of Fluid Technology and Microfluidics at the University of Rostock will present a further exciting development: an extrusion-based additive process for producing high-density metal components known as Composite Extrusion Modelling (CEM). It consists of two phases – additive manufacturing of green parts from injection-moulded metal grains followed by industrial sintering – and has demonstrated distinct advantages over powder-based processes in terms of material handling and cost-effectiveness.

The 13th Rapid.Tech, international trade show and conference for Additive Manufacturing, will include the trade forums “Additive Contract Manufacturing”, “Electronic Engineering” and “Automotive Industry” for the first time. Both the new conference sections and the well-established trade forums “Medical Technology”, “Dental Technology”, “Design”, “Aviation”, “Tools” and “Science” and the User’s Conference will provide opportunities for industry professionals to discuss specific AM issues in depth. For twelve years, the User’s Conference has been the platform used by experts and newcomers to discuss the current state of Additive Manufacturing as well as developing trends. “With the expanded conference programme and the extended, three-day duration of Rapid.Tech, we are keeping abreast of the latest developments in Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing,” explains Wieland Kniffka, CEO of Messe Erfurt.

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