Over the four days of the trade fair, Formnext 2022 turned the metropolis of Frankfurt am Main into an international innovation center for global additive manufacturing and modern industrial production. With more than 800 exhibitors on four hall levels, the world's leading trade fair set new standards: The numerous world premieres and innovative developments included new AM technologies, new and improved AM systems as well as new materials from wood to ceramics, software solutions, service offerings and solutions for post-processing.

An exciting supporting program also contributed to the positive outcome: numerous special shows, symposia and other events offered visitors the opportunity to immerse themselves in different areas of additive manufacturing and various application industries and to discuss the latest developments. In Frankfurt, important answers to pressing industrial issues of the future such as decentralized production, secure process chains, efficiency and sustainability were also presented.

"Once again, Formnext has proven to be one of the industry highlights of the year for experts," emphasizes Dr. Wolfgang Seeliger, Managing Director of Leichtbau BW. "Improved technologies, new materials and digital services are needed to fully exploit the potential of industrial 3D printing for lighter and functionally optimized components. The solutions and innovations on show at the event clearly demonstrate how intensively AM is now being used in the most demanding industrial applications."

Exhibitors from Baden-Württemberg present numerous innovations

The partner companies of Leichtbau BW, among others, demonstrated what this can look like in practice: the online platform "Addimap" developed by Rosswag from Pfinztal enables uncomplicated trading with process parameters and validated material data. In addition, Karl Späh from Scheer is one of the first service providers on the market to offer the special combination of the multi-jet fusion manufacturing process with polypropylene for the broad market. In addition to low material costs, this material also offers high chemical resistance.

The InnovationCampus Mobility of the Future (ICM) also presented new results from AM research for visitors to touch: researchers from the University of Stuttgart and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology presented the "eVee" lightweight vehicle at the trade fair, which is equipped with innovative electric motors from additive-subtractive manufacturing.

Meanwhile, the two sinter-based 3D printing technologies Cold-Metal-Fusion and MoldJet are the focus at MIMplus Technologies: the representatives of the company from Ispringen presented a filigree rotary actuator with a futuristic look as an example. Murtfeldt Additive Solutions is pursuing another exciting approach: with MurSint PA12 blue, the think tank from Tübingen presented a new material for food-safe 3D printing that is also suitable for applications in the pharmaceutical industry.