The growth potential for AM materials differs from printing equipment, as operational legacy printers continue to consume materials. Therefore, this segment of the 3D printing value chain represents a tremendous opportunity: ID Tech Ex forecasts that the global market for 3D printing materials will be worth 29.5 billion dollars in 2032.

At the Mindelheim-based company BBG, an end-to-end line for finishing glass with polyurethane (PUR) is being set up to demonstrate and test the results of a research project. The project “EKI — Engineering for AI-based Automation in Production Environments” is intended to pave the way for the intelligent adaptation of production systems to changing requirements and environmental conditions, for example in order to manufacture new variants of a product.

With the increasing popularity and advancement of 3D printing, the need for specialised materials is growing accordingly. This article gives an overview of the most important plastics, metals and other materials used in 3D printing.

According to a new market research report the global automotive plastics market size for passenger cars is projected to grow from 21.1 billion dollars in 2021 to 30.8 billion dollars by 2026, at a CAGR of 7.9 percent during the forecast period 2021 to 2026.

How does a company transition from manufacturing small parts to the micro-scale? Can these parts be produced cost-effectively? What is important when partnering with another company?

Cannon Ergos, a company of the Cannon Group, is working with Boeing on moulding trials for the feasibility of using recycled carbon fibre (rCF) for the fabrication of aircraft cabin interior sidewall panels.

It makes use of a thulium fiber laser, which offers a particular advantage: Since plastics absorb the corresponding wavelength well, the process does not require additional absorbers such as soot.

The expert for 3D printing technologies Stratasys, announced new manufacturing materials across three different 3D printing technologies, including third-party materials for FDM 3D printers for the first time.

Due to lockdowns in several countries, the demand for thermoplastic composites has declined significantly in many industries. Not only have supply-chains been disrupted, but also the absence of workers slowed down production.

With the 'Darwin' project, the Fraunhofer Spinn-off Plus 10 and SKZ want to develop new AI solutions for injection moulding and put them through practical tests. The models will be tested on different machines in order to design a manufacturer-independent solution.