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Plastics Discovery Tour

Fakuma

Self-lubricating high-performance plastic gears enable clean, maintenance-free drives – ideal for medical applications.

Solid lubricants are already integrated into gears made from tribologically optimized plastics.

16:9

Additive Fertigung

Medizintechnik

Ensuring Smooth Operation

Impossible Objects introduces the CBAM 25 high-speed 3D printer to Europe, aiming to advance the industrial transition from prototyping to mass production.

The CBAM 25 prints parts like this in ten seconds.

Anlagen Additive Fertigung / 3D-Druck, Kunststoff

3D-Drucker (für FDM, FFF, etc.)

CBAM 25 Enters the European Market

3D printing facilitates and accelerates the manufacture of new products. Ensinger is an expert in high-performance plastics in this area.

High-performance plastics can be used in 3D printing to fulfil the highest requirements from batch size 1, for example for biocompatible trial bone plates and trial joint implants.

Filamente für additive Verfahren

Hochleistungskunststoffe

Fused Deposition Modeling Kunststoff, Glas, Karbon, Metall

Medizinprodukte

3D Printing with  High-Performance Thermoplastics

Instead of mechanically removing support structures in 3D printing, these can also be made from the water-soluble material polyvinyl alcohol (PVA).

A (black) 3D-printed cube (black) on a (white) supporting structure.  The supporting structure is what supports the strand tray of the component. 

Polyvinylalkohol

Water-Soluble Support Materials

Breakthrough in micro manufacturing by combining high-precision 3D printing and micro injection molding.

The POM micro-parts for an endoscope were produced using a 3D-printed injection mold. 

Spritzgießen

Mikrospritzgießen

Spritzgießwerkzeuge

SLA (Stereolithografie) Kunststoff

Lasertechnik

Micro-Parts in Just Two Weeks: Impossible? Not at All!

External cooling through complete or partial ejection of the mold creates new opportunities for the production of prototypes and small series.

Disassembled plastic mold insert, assembled in the mold, component demolded after injection molding and cooled in a water bath (from left to right).

Rapid Tooling

Mold Inserts Cooled Externally

Combination of 3D-printed polymer structures and near-net-shape organic sheets for complex, high-performance mono-material components.

Examples of 3D-printed lightweight components with and without NNS structures.

Combination of 3D-printed polymer structures and near-net-shape organic sheets for complex high-performance components.

Verfahren für die additive Fertigung

Faserverbundwerkstoffe

Only the Component Is Complex

Amidst the amount of options available, material selection presents a huge challenge. This is precisely where Replique‘s Material Hub steps in.

With the Replique Material Hub, 3D printing plastics of all types can be easily filtered according to material requirements (Design by struktur.form.design Engineering GmbH).

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Streamlining Material Selection  in 3D Printing

SAF from Stratasys offers possibilities that were previously not feasible due to high tooling costs, lack of manufacturing capacity or supply chain constraints.

Thanks to the use of SAF technology in large-scale production, car manufacturers can be more flexible in terms of production requirements.

Fast Manufacturing and  High Production Capacities

Chinaplas combines many superlatives. Plastics Insights was there to gather impressions of this mega-event.

The automobile (did you spot the show car in the middle of the picture?) was the focus of many Chinaplas exhibitors. Here at the stand of materials manufacturer Toray.

Schröder, Susanne

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Messe Chinaplas

Werkzeuge für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Länderspecial China

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

A Visit to Chinaplas 2024

The generative MPA technology from HMG (Hermle Maschinenbau GmbH) scores highly where conventional cooling is not possible or cannot be used.

The crux of the matter: The mold core of the injection mold conceals copper elements inside, which quickly dissipate the heat to the next cooling channel. This mold is used to produce a housing for the automotive sector, which later accommodates the gearbox of a window regulator.

Why Alhorn relies on Hermle's MPA technology

Werkzeugbau

Copper Cools Constantly

The combination of an additively manufactured mold insert with near-contour temperature and variothermal process control means that flow lines can be avoided.

By combining different technologies in the production of a tool insert, surface defects can be avoided and higher productivity can be achieved. 

Temperiertechnik

Konturnahe Kühlung

Dynamische / variotherme Temperierung

Cavity Insert Designed for the  Highest Surface Requirements

The dynamic further development of additive manufacturing in terms of processes and materials is constantly expanding the possibilities of additive tooling.

Additively manufactured polymer tool insert and the part injection molded with this insert. 

New Applications in Additive Tooling

Behind the Screens: IKT presents in-situ methods for the experimental validation of simulation models in 3D printing

Fused filament fabrication (FFF) or fused deposition modeling (FDM) are the most commonly used additive manufacturing methods.

Werkstoffe für additive Verfahren

Insights into 3D Printing Nozzles

The high demands on individually manufactured components and the material properties make 3D printing indispensable for the development of motorsport.

Formula Student Germany: every year, around 100 teams take part in the largest Forumula Student Event at the Hockenheimring in Germany.

Automotive

3D Printing on the Fast Track

Helpful in choosing the right lubricant for PVC is the Hildebrand solubility parameter. For many lubricants, values are now available for the first time.

PVC-Additive

Polyvinylchlorid

Standardkunststoffe

Gleitmittel für Kunststoff

Additive

An Attempt to Quantify the Compatibility of Lubricants for PVC

CMF technology is changing the map of metal 3D printing and paving the way for an exciting future in metal fabrication.

Green part impeller: The production of the green part is the first step in the CMF process.

The Best of Two Worlds

The company Impetus investigated whether additive manufacturing with shape memory polymers loses their memory effect.

Testing Shape Memory Polymers

This year, Formnext spotlighted a wide-ranging array of cutting-edge additive manufacturing solutions and world firsts across industries.

Many Formnext exhibitors provided surprises this year, with visitors to various booths (Stratasys pictured) able to see world premieres unpacked live.

Ehrhardt, Melanie

Showcasing Global Debuts and Marvels

Formnext 2023: Setting course for a more productive, sustainable industrial future with pioneering AM technologies.

Formnext 2023 took place in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, from November 7 to 10, 2023.

“Formnext 2023 Offered a Unique Trade Fair Experience“

Loadable suction pads and mechanical grippers made of fiber-reinforced PA and PP with individualized fingers for picking up components, mounted on robot arms, will be on show in Frankfurt.

Die 3D-Drucker der Baureihen TiQ und LiQ von InnovatiQ sind prädestiniert für die Verarbeitung von faserverstärkten Filamenten und Standardsilikonen.

Arburg Presents Series for Fiber-Reinforced Filaments

Henkel will introduce four new products to its growing portfolio of photopolymer resins for 3D Printing at Formnext 2023 in Frankfurt.

Four at One Stroke

The precisionPrint combines stereolithography with industrial efficiency. For this purpose, KraussMaffei has deliberately incorporated customer experience into the further technical development of the printer in addition to its own many years of expertise and is now introducing this evolution at Formnext.

The precisionPrint stereolithography 3D printer shows multilaser-technology for series production.

KraussMaffei Shows Multilaser-Technology for Series Production

Evonik introduces the world’s first carbon-fiber reinforced PEEK filament for long-term 3D printed medical implants.

Vestakeep filament with 12% or 20% carbon-fiber content for adaptability to requirements of implants.

Medizintechnik (KU)

New Possibilities in Medical Technology

Material composition in view: Compounder Akro-Plastic has developed a method for quantifying warpage in additive manufacturing.

3D printed: Friederike Schwartz and Michael Rieck from Akro-Plastic checking the quality of a part made of a flame-retardant compound.

Compounder Acro-Plastic explains how fiber reinforcement can help.

Polyamide

Polypropylen-Compound

Compoundieren

Staying Grounded

The Polymer-Lab of TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences investigates whether filament-based mold inserts are applicable in practice or not.

Master mold with 3D-printed insert for the production of LSR test specimens.