AddiFab
AddiFab
Last month, AddiFab exhibited at TCT Show where it showcased its TCT Awards-shortlisted Freeform Injection Molding technology. At the show, CEO Lasse G. Staal spoke to TCT about the capabilities of Freeform Injection Molding, the gap in the market the company is targeting and its partnership with Mitsubishi Chemical.
TCT: AddiFab was this year shortlisted for the TCT Hardware Award – Non-polymer systems, can you explain why Freeform Injection Molding (FIM) makes sense for manufacturers?
Lasse Staal: "It makes sense because, for a lot of companies, additive manufacturing does not meet the need for the product. You can make prototypes, but you see very few companies living from prototypes; service bureaus do, but companies manufacturing products for end market, they are not compensated for the prototypes, they're compensated for the products. And if the 3D printer cannot process the material that you need for the finished product, you're in trouble because then you prototype using 3D printing and as soon as you migrate into the production, you need to change from the printer to the moulding. That is then a risky process because it entails new validations, it entails new materials, it entails extra time, extra costs, extra risk."
TCT: Can you explain the FIM process from start to finish?
LS: "The manufacturer will start with a conventional CAD file of a component. That CAD file is imported and we invert the component to create a cavity, which is what the injection moulder needs to make a component. We encase the cavity in a mould body with inlets and outlets, and then we slice the mould body before we chuck it into the 3D printer.
“After printing, you have the cleaning and post curing, which is either standard or specialised for our materials. You have the injection moulding, which is standard, the only thing the injection moulder needs to replace is the part of the piece that shapes the material that is injected. Normally you do a metal insert. In this case, it's a 3D printed polymer insert. Then you de-mould to get the component out of the insert, and after trimming and inspection, you are done."
TCT: The disparity in available materials between additive manufacturing and injection moulding is a pain point for many manufacturers, how does this FIM address that?
LS: “What we've tried to do is to create a platform that combines the benefits from 3D printing with injection moulding so you get the same low start up costs, short lead times, and design freedom, but the baseline is the injection moulding. That means we can process all the materials that an injection moulding user would normally want to process, all those pre-qualified grades for the automotive industries, all the pre-qualified grades for the aerospace industries, the stuff that you use for medical devices, which also has to be biocompatible. Most of those materials are not available as 3D printable materials, but FIM allows us to process them off-the-shelf.”
TCT: What is the gap you are aiming to fill in the manufacturing space?
LS: “I see a gap between the prototyping and the production that is not really being remedied by many 3D printing solutions, and I see a lot of materials manufacturers having problems getting their injection-mouldable materials into the work streams of additive manufacturing. FIM is an elegant cross over. It's not a replacement for injection moulding, it's not a replacement for additive manufacturing, it's a complement to the two technologies. I wouldn't be scared of AddiFab if I was making filaments because a lot of applications are ideally served with filaments or powders, but for those companies who want to have the smoothest possible scaling up from the prototyping to production, and those companies working with injection moulding, I see a huge need for better platforms that allow you to prototype with design freedom, the short lead times, and low costs of additive, and to then scale seamlessly into conventional injection moulding.
"In short, FIM gives you the shape flexibility, speed and low-cost of 3DP with the reliability and the choice of qualified materials available for injection moulding."
TCT: Diamond Edge Ventures, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings’ venture arm, recently invested in AddiFab. What does FIM offer a company like Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings and how do you foresee the collaboration developing?
LS: “Mitsubishi Chemical has a clear need that we have demonstrated that we can meet. Many of the materials Mitsubishi has developed are not yet available for additive manufacturing, and that means developers cannot start prototyping with these materials. Freeform Injection Molding is a convenient gateway for these developers, because they can now prototype using the off-the-shelf granulates in their installed-base injection-moulding machines. That's one business area where Freeform Injection Molding fits the Mitsubishi Chemical agenda: we can make their materials additive much faster and cheaper.
"For now, that is one of the most important shared agendas, and we have already established dialogues with several Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings subsidiaries to start qualifying their materials. It's going to be a very interesting journey from here."
