Areas of competence

As the Fraunhofer IAPT, our additive experts stand for sustainable innovation in the field of additive production. This ranges from developments on the process and material level, the development of novel component designs and system technologies to factory planning and digitization.

Our range of services in the area of contract research is aimed at business and industry as well as society and covers the entire process chain.

Industrial and service companies of all sizes benefit from our many years of experience in additive production technologies. For our customers we develop and optimize technologies, processes and products up to the production of prototypes and small series.

In the case of additive production technologies, the design of the future component is the first priority. A component can be manufactured cost-effectively and resource-efficiently, especially if the design is adapted to the later production process already in the construction phase. The quality of a component also depends decisively on the construction (design) and the planned processing steps. It can be directly monitored and controlled during production by means of appropriate continuous monitoring.

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The AM Processes department is concerned with the development and optimization of materials, manufacturing processes and aftertreatment steps for additive manufactured components. The primary goal is to minimize manufacturing costs, e.g. by increasing process speeds or suitable beam shaping, and to optimize the quality of the components.

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The AM Systeme department develops tailor-made solutions for smart and highly automated additive production. Concepts for quality-assured "First Time Right" production of complex components of batch size 1 are developed and realized up to intelligent machine interlinking in terms of Industry 4.0. The department is divided into two specialist groups in which the necessary technological components are developed and implemented for industry. The service
comprises the development of individual system components, the linking and realization of completely autonomous process chains and their implementation as an Additive Mobile Factory. This is complemented by the mapping of process sequences in a digital twin and the simulation-supported optimization of production lines in a self-developed tool.

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The Additive Academy provides application-oriented knowledge on topics related to the industrial use of Additive Production (AM). Benefit from the comprehensive expert knowledge of the leading research institute for additive production technologies. Our training program will help you to identify the opportunities and challenges of this innovative production technology and to successfully implement it in your own company.

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Medical technology is a constantly growing and at the same time challenging field for innovations and their application. Additive production technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) in particular have shown that they are important components in modern, patient-specific care. The Medical Competence Center established at the Fraunhofer IAPT conducts research in both fields of competence and supports companies, hospitals and physicians in the realization and implementation of the new medical workflow.

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The Fraunhofer IAPT operates its own competence center for laser processing and for the construction of large structures. The special know-how includes laser-based joining technologies as well as various additive manufacturing processes for metals, plastics and concrete. The development goals and activities are focused on innovative and optimized processes, improved material properties, the necessary processing and monitoring systems and associated automation solutions.

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