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Foaming in additive manufacturing
Foaming in additive manufacturing with Arburg Plastic Freeforms (AKF) to determine the comparability of additively manufactured and injection-molded components
Project duration
From: 01.06.2021 To: 31.08.2023Description
Thermoplastic foam injection molding (TSG) has been established in the industry for many years. However, foamed components for technical applications have not yet established themselves in additive manufacturing processes. In fact, foaming in additive manufacturing opens up completely new degrees of freedom and immense innovation potential in design, part design, functional integration and cost-efficient production.
Arburg Plastic Freeforming (APF) is ideal for the production of additively manufactured foam structures. The component is created by depositing plastic strands in layers on a building platform and is based on injection molding. In general, the strand deposition process and fused layer modeling (FLM) have become the market leaders in terms of the number of machines sold and represent the easiest technology to implement both technically and economically for the production of additively manufactured components. Furthermore, a very large selection of processable materials is already available today.
There is therefore an urgent need for action in the field of foaming in additive manufacturing. The aim is to work out the influence of the process parameters on the foam structure in the components as well as the influence of the foaming agent in terms of its functionality and concentration.
The project results and the methods developed are intended to provide the fundamental knowledge not yet available for the production of foamed components suitable for series production with reproducible properties and component quality. At the end of the project, SMEs in particular, which make up the majority of the FLM industry, should benefit from new findings regarding reproducible test methods, optimum material selection, component design and construction strategy.
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