- 3D Printing Research Association, ‘2024 Formnext Delegation’ Meeting Successfully Held
The global additive manufacturing industry has shown continuous growth in its application sectors as technology advances focused on improving productivity and diversifying materials.
The 3D Printing Research Association held the 'Formnext 2024 Presentation Conference' on the 15th at 1:30 PM in the seminar room on the second floor of the Pangyo Startup Campus.
This event aimed to share global additive manufacturing trends and application areas identified at the world's largest additive manufacturing exhibition, 'Formnext 2024,' held in Frankfurt, Germany, for four days starting from November 19 of last year. The 3D Printing Research Association formed a delegation to attend 'Formnext 2024' for the development of the domestic additive manufacturing industry, targeting related academia-industry-research personnel.
'Formnext 2024' provided a platform to reconfirm that additive manufacturing technology is evolving into a technology required for mass production processes through large-scale, material diversification, and automation.
At the meeting, experts from academia and industry who attended Formnext presented on the following topics: △ Laser PBF (Powder Bed Fusion) development trends △ WAAM (Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing) equipment and technology trends △ Next-generation additive manufacturing technology trends △ Additive manufacturing material trends and forecasts △ Evolution of application fields such as automotive, aerospace, defense, industrial components, and semiconductors.
Director Kang Min-cheol of the 3D Printing Research Association cited the following characteristics of global additive manufacturing technologies confirmed through this Formnext 2024: △ Emergence of various metal materials and expansion into multi-materials △ Large-scale plastic materials and commercialization of carbon fiber composites using robotic equipment △ Composite materialization of EURO 7 compliant disc brakes △ Continuous expansion of heat exchanger application cases.
Additionally, the metal additive manufacturing material market is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 21.9% from 2021 to 2026. At Formnext, it was confirmed that existing sintering powder companies, tool and specialty alloy companies, and MIM (Metal Injection Molding) companies are expanding the market with additive manufacturing powders.
The Korea Institute of Industrial Technology exhibited numerous products and parts produced efficiently and economically using WAAM for large metal components, stating that active developments are underway for key technologies such as additive path generation, parameter optimization based on heat sources, real-time monitoring technologies for the additive process, and quality inspection technologies utilizing process monitoring data.
Park Gi-deok, CEO of Godtech, mentioned that the parts market is expanding due to the combination of new industries such as electric vehicles and space launch vehicles with additive manufacturing technology. He also added that metal additive manufacturing is focused on technology development in industries with high added value and high demand, such as stainless steel, nickel, and titanium alloys.
Jeon Ho-seong, director of Zyb Solutions, which distributes desktop metal binder jet (BJ) additive manufacturing equipment in Korea, stated that BJ technology is suitable for producing millions of mass parts, overcoming the limitations of support removal and surface quality degradation. He forecasted that the market scale will rapidly grow from $97.2 million in 2022 to $254.24 million by 2031. He noted that the optimization of binder injection volume and design modeling considering shrinkage after sintering should be primarily considered due to the nature of the BJ process.
Instec, a Powder DED specialist, announced that many DED companies exhibited brake disk cladding in response to EURO 7 regulations at this Formnext. Utilizing the biggest advantage of the DED process—multi-material layering—they showcased rocket nozzles and cutting tools. They also exhibited wide beam modules from small beams made possible by the flexible beam adjustment characteristics of the DED process.
Meanwhile, detailed insights on the additive manufacturing trends felt by experts from academia and industry through Formnext 2024 are being introduced in a series of articles and can be found in the New Material Economy contribution section.
Source: New Material Economy http://www.amenews.kr/news/view.php?idx=60408 [Reporter Shin Geun-soon]