Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAMBy using additive processes, components can be created from powders in almost any and very complex shapes from 3D CAD data. The manufactured components are given their final properties directly in the process. Common to all commercially available process variants is the principle of tool-free, layer-by-layer construction of the component on the basis of the three-dimensional CAD model. These processes are used in particular in the implementation of rapid product development in prototype and small series production and, in the area of sinter-based processes, increasingly also in the series production of geometrically complex components.
At Fraunhofer IFAM, we cover the complete value chain for the additive processes we have available – from the creation of 3D data models, through manufacturing, to final processing and inspection of the components.