Alliance aims to drive forward industrial 3D printing

The consortium of ten Central German companies, three research institutes and two universities has set itself the goal of finally establishing additive manufacturing processes on a broad basis in the SME sector. The sticking point: so far, unresolved quality problems in the interaction of material, process and data as well as a lack of standards have stood in the way of a real breakthrough. "Research is being carried out on individual aspects in many places, and there are also good stand-alone solutions - but we need an all-inclusive industrial program along the entire technological chain," says consortium leader Hans-Joachim Münch from Sonotec.

Since the end of 2023, the network, which is primarily rooted in southern Saxony-Anhalt, has been pooling its strengths in five joint projects with dozens of individual projects. The whole thing is funded by the RUBIN program of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space. The long-term goal is ambitious: To create an "Additive Valley" in the region - a Central German competence center with Europe-wide appeal.

The range of topics covered by the alliance is considerable. From material selection and handling large amounts of data to process monitoring and post-processing through to standardization, certification and training, AddiQ covers the entire process chain. The aim behind this is to achieve noticeable improvements in weight, costs and delivery times across all industries - and to make entire production steps and assemblies superfluous in the long term.

At the first AddiQ user forum in Halle (Saale), the partners recently presented concrete interim results to representatives from industry and research from all over Germany. The focus was on electromagnetically shielding polymer materials with conductive carbon nanotubes and carbon fiber reinforcement, which eliminate the need for additional shielding while reducing weight and allowing for quick product adaptations. Also on the agenda were electrostatically dissipative packaging, miniaturized heating systems and functionally integrated housings for analytical measuring devices. Other topics ranged from multiaxial production for medical orthoses and large-format components for the transportation sector to AI-supported acoustic and thermal imaging-based process monitoring in small series production. What all projects have in common is the consistent focus on end-to-end quality assurance.

Beyond the funded phase, AddiQ plans to further develop the network and is specifically focusing on the exchange with medium-sized companies and research institutions from the fields of mechanical engineering, electronics, medical technology and mobility. "They can contribute their specific technological approaches and issues in order to create promising additive solutions together with us," says Dr.-Ing. Klaus Krüger, Chairman of the Board of GMBU e.V., which is also active in alliance management.