Arburg Plastic Freeforming is predestined for the additive manufacturing of medtech components. The associated Freeformer-type additive manufacturing systems process the same plastic pellets that are used in injection molding. That makes the open systems very economical to use.

In the AKF process, resorbable original materials such a plate-implants similar to bone, can be manufactured. They are gradually replaced by endogenous tissue

Medical Product Manufacturers Are Processing Original Materials Using the Freeformer

Anlagen Additive Fertigung / 3D-Druck, andere

Anlagen für die Additive Fertigung

Biokunststoffe

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Additive Fertigung

Medizintechnik

Medizinprodukte

Werkstoffe für additive Verfahren

Andere Werkstoffe

Arburg Kunststoff Freiformen

Verfahren für die additive Fertigung

Freiraumverfahren

New Possibilities for Use  in the Human Body

Up to now, the integration of electronic components and consequently, the production of customized 3D-printed sensors has presented a challenge. Now, together with the companies Arburg and Balluff, Fraunhofer IPA has achieved a breakthrough.

Demonstration model of customized sensor at different production stages: CAD concept (top left), after integrationof the electronic components (top right) and as a finished demonstration model (bottom)

16:9

Technik Trend

kunststoffe-international.com

Sensoren

Logistik

Lagertechnik

Sensors from the Printer

tesa develops e. g. adhesives for smartphone components and investigate the added value that additive manufacturing with plastics freeforming can bring.

“Printed” pressure-sensitive adhesives can be used, for example, to bond smartphone components together, without producing any waste

tesa Uses Freeformer for Novel Bonding Applications

Klebstoffe

Verbindungstechnik Verfahren

Chemisches Fügeverfahren

What Holds the World together

Arburg presents a total of four Allrounder exhibits and two Freeformers on show. All machines will be connected live to the Arburg host computer system ALS for demonstration purposes and to the arburgXworld customer portal, another focus of the trade fair display. Detailed information on the arburgGreenworld environmental and recycling program will round off Arburg‘s involvement in Chinaplas.

Arburg will be demonstrating the potential of freeformers for additive manufacturing on two exhibits at Chinaplas 2022.

Spritzgießen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Spritzgießmaschinen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

High-End Wherever You Look

What AM technology is considered capable of today and how it can be applied in many areas of application is shown (representative) by this expert’s view of medical technology.

To enhance the mobility of the spine, the upper and lower shell of this disc prosthesis are connected with an elastic double spring made of titanium. The core also contains a cushioning silicone filling. The prosthesis can be manufactured according to the patient’s anatomy using the LaserCusing process 

Status and Perspectives for Human Medicine

Anlagen Additive Fertigung / 3D-Druck, Kunststoff

Anlagen Additive Fertigung / 3D-Druck, Metall

Medical Applications of Additive Manufacturing

On October 16, 2019, on the first evening of the K fair in Düsseldorf, Germany, Carl Hanser Verlag awarded the Dr. Richard Escales prize for the eighth time in memory of the founder of the journal Kunststoffe. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Andreas Gebhardt achieved the award for “outstanding achievements in the advancement of technical knowledge”, as the citation on the certificate states.

Fig. 3. From artwork to replica: the data were read with a hand scanner in about an hour (left); Antonius Köster discusses the result at a 3D fair (center); Stratasys Manager, Michael Eichmann, with a print in virtually the original size (right), which at first glance cannot be distinguished from  the original

Award for Technical Author on Additive Manufacturing

Messe K-Kunststoffmesse

Bildverarbeitungs-Software

Fertigungsautomation

Bildverarbeitung

Klotz, Karlhorst, Dr.

Outstanding 3D Achievements

Fiber-reinforced plastic components, including those for load-bearing areas, are established alternatives to metals in vehicle construction. It is not just their low specific weight that makes them interesting, but also their acoustic properties, which reduce noise transmission.

Fig. 1. Internal combustion engine and its connection to the vehicle structure via engine support and support (colored black)

3D Printing Shortens Development Times for Load-Bearing Parts under the Hood

Spritzgießsimulation

Software

Simulation

Functional Prototypes for  Car Components

In a joint project, the Fraunhofer Plastics Technology Center Oberlausitz, the University of Zittau/Görlitz, KraussMaffei and Elbe Flugzeugwerke, have enhanced an extruder-based method for additive manufacturing of large-format plastic parts using a flexible melt pipe.

Thermal analysis of the deposited plastic strand in the large-format, extruder-based 3D printing process

An Alternative Approach to Large-Format 3D Printing with Plastic

Granulate

Extruder

Extrusionsanlagen

Large but still Economical

Würth Additive Group is now a partner for the distribution of the Freeformer in the USA and Canada.

“The Freeformer and APF process allow us to open up completely new possibilities in the field of industrial additive manufacturing,” said AJ Strandquist, chief executive officer for Würth Additive Group.

Machines for the USA and Canada

Both companies aim to open up market access to new large-scale industrial applications in the higher temperature range.

Component made from Evonik’s Infinam PA 6005 P material and produced on a Farsoon system

Evonik and Farsoon Strengthen Collaboration

Production is becoming ever more flexible, diversified and decentralized. Without doubt, additive manufacturing processes make a crucial contribution to this, also initiating the transformation from production-based design to design-driven production. In this article, the 3D printing service provider FIT outlines a best-practice panorama of current technologies.

The biggest ever 3D-printed lattice structure was assembled along over 2000 precisely fitting joints into an 8 m-high retable

What Additive Plastic Manufacturing Can Do. The View of a Full-Service Provider

Anlagen für die Stereolithografie, Kunststoff

Anlagen Selektives Lasersintern, Kunststoff

3D-Druck-Anlage, pulverbettbasiert, Metall

SLA (Stereolithografie) Kunststoff

Flüssigmaterialverfahren

3D-Druck-Anlage, strahlbasiert, Metall

Selektives Lasersintern von Kunststoff, Metall, Keramik

Pulverbettverfahren

3D-Drucker (für FDM, FFF, etc.)

Fused Deposition Modeling Kunststoff, Glas, Karbon, Metall

Finer, Bigger, Faster

Italian manufacturer Roboze has equipped its Argo 500 3D printer with automation technology from B&R. The printer offers repeatable high precision and full process control. This reduces lead times and lowers the cost of creating custom metal-replacement components

Roboze uses B&R technology to integrate its 3D printer into industrial production. Customized high-performance plastics can now be processed faster and easier

Steuerungen (Hardware und Software)

Automatisierungstechnik

High-Precision 3D Printing

Rehau is developing an additive manufacturing process that can turn out large polymer manholes in single-unit batches.

Kevin Winter (left) and Jonas Wilfert from Rehau in their 3D printing production environment. Components can have a maximum diameter of 1.2 m and height of 85 cm

Additive Manufacturing Process Revolutionizes Process Chain in Civil Engineering

Hoch- und Tiefbau

Bauwesen

Baubetrieb / Bauwirtschaft

Large Components Custom-Built  in One Week

Over the four trade-show days in November, Formnext 2021 transformed the metropolis of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, into an international innovation center of global additive manufacturing and modern industrial production. At the plastics side, some of the focuses were on the manufacture of voluminous parts, the use of injection molding pellets as a material basis, and the processing of high-performance plastics.

A high-strength carbon fiber-reinforced polyamide is printed on a plasma-treated stainless steel sheet.

Formnext 2021: Successful Relaunch as a Face-to-Face Show

Doriat, Clemens, Dr.

Hochleistungskunststoffe

Thermoplaste

High-Performance 3D Printing

3D Systems has developed the SLA 750 stereolithography solution for additive manufacturing of large products or high quantities. It comprises the 3D printers SLA 750 and SLA 750 Dual, as well as the new material Accura AMX Durable Natural and the Post Cure 1050 secondary finishing system.

Resistant material: Accura AMX Durable Natural is suitable for applications with high elasticity and high impact strength. © 3D Systems

Harzwerkstoffe

SLA Platform for Large Parts

The Freeformer Allows a Tailor-Made Combination of Several Active Ingredients

Additive manufacturing has the potential to manufacture tablets individualized for the particular patient, and thereby further digitalize the pharmaceutical industry. In medication development, the properties of a tablet, such as its shape, dosage or release of the active substance, can be individually tailored – by making just a few changes to the digital 3D print file. Merck scientists have used a Freeformer for their lab tests.

The conventional method of pressing powder formulations from active ingredients and excipients is a tried-and-tested process with a long track record. It is especially efficient for manufacturing tablets with the same formulation by the billion. However, the method is less suitable when it comes to smaller amounts of experimental actives. “In the early phase of clinical development, dose escalation studies are performed to determine the best and safest dose for the patients. This requires numerous formulations with different amounts of active ingredients to be available,” explains Dr. Thomas Kipping, who is head of Drug Carriers at Merck in the Life Science division (Title figure).

For some time, Merck, one of the world’s oldest pharmaceutical and chemical companies, has been working on an alternative. Additive manufacturing not only speeds up clinical trials and thereby reduces the time until medications are available for patients. They can also benefit patients with rare illnesses and contribute to personalizing the medicine, since they allow the production of tablets with a precise dosage tailored to individual patients.

To drill down into this subject, Thomas Kipping’s team rented a Freeformer from Arburg initially for one year. The machine is an open system that employs the patented APF process, Arburg Plastic Freeforming, to produce usually technical components by the layer-by-layer application of extremely small plastic droplets directly from 3D CAD data, and with qualified standard pellets. It is possible to make individual adjustments to the manufacturing process by influencing the layer-by-layer build-up by means of slicing, droplet size and process control.

Promising Tests with Various Model Active Ingredients

For the tests, various model active ingredients were used, which, together with a special polyvinyl alcohol (PVA, type: Parteck MXP) and additives such as a binder and flavor marker, are melted and homogenized in a twin-screw extruder. According to the manufacturer, the PVA polymer is approved as safe by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in pharmaceuticals. Other advantages of Parteck MXP mentioned by Merck are

<ul><li> the production of an amorphous solid solution to improve the solubility of active ingredients and therefore the bioavailability,</li><li>stable, high active-ingredient loading under variable conditions,</li><li> high thermal stability (above 250 °C), and a broad spectrum of active ingredients,</li><li>a wide various of oral administration forms with individual release kinetics dependent on the particular formulation, and</li><li>good reproducibility of the manufacturing process.</li></ul>

Here, the first advantage of the APF process came into its own: the Freeformer can apply the extruded and pelletized material directly without it needing to be processed into filaments and thereby be subjected to thermal or mechanical stressing again.

Polypills from the 3D Printer Are the Ultimate Goal

In addition, the open system allows various process parameters to be easily varied. For example, tests were carried out with filler loadings between 30 and 100 % (Fig. 1), in which the filler loading is recognizable by the porosity. “The test results overall are very positive. We ascertained that the active ingredient is very homogeneously distributed in the tablet. We can influence how much is released within a given time period by changing the filler loading,” explains Kipping. This permits very accurate dosage, as is shown by the results of an active ingredient release analysis in a special apparatus (Fig. 2). Another possibility consists in combining several active substances in one tablet. “One day, we will produce small batches for particular patient groups,” predicts Kipping. “These polypills from the 3D printer are the ultimate goal.“

The requirements on the stability of the additively manufactured product were also analyzed and found to be good. After all, the tablets must, of course, not be broken during downstream process steps such as coating, packaging and transport. Ultimately, additive manufacturing can also contribute to decentralizing pharmaceutical manufacturing, adds Kipping. In the future, tablets could be manufactured in small amounts via the 3D printer directly in pharmacies.

Merck KGaA  

https://www.merck.de

ARBURG GmbH + Co KG  

https://www.arburg.com

Ausgabenartikel

Merck researcher Dr. Thomas Kipping (right) and Nabil Lamrabet value the advantages that the Freeformer offers as an open system.

Fig. 1. The tablet (left) was manufactured with the Freeformer. The electron micrograph (right) shows its mesh-like structure.

Fig. 2. The filler loading of the tablets can be used to control the release of active ingredient.  Here, the polymer melt is loaded with 10 % caffeine in each case as a model active ingredient

Name - Hauptartikel

<b>Lukas Pawelczyk</b> is head of Freeformer sales at Arburg GmbH + Co KG, Lossburg, Germany.

<b>Merck KGaA</b>, Darmstadt, Germany, with 60 production sites worldwide most recently (2021) earned EUR 19.7 billion with the development and manufacturing of new pharmaceuticals and medical diagnostics.