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Formnext 2023: Innovations in metal Additive Manufacturing from the industry's leading international exhibition When it comes to presenting a review of the world's largest international exhibition for AM, one can go about it in two ways: very broad generalisations about the state of the industry or a more focused review of a handful of noteworthy developments. Given the 859 exhibitors at Formnext 2023, spread over some 54,000 m2, this review by Dr Martin McMahon takes the latter approach, offering broader context where possible. Whilst many more press announcements are covered in the industry news section of this issue, the following report provides an overview of how – and where – AM is evolving and maturing into a credible and dynamic technology.
This year’s Formnext was perhaps the most eagerly anticipated since the global pandemic. While 2021 saw a fair number of both exhibitors and visitors, attendance was somewhat subdued in the wake of COVID-19. Then, last year, the buzz was back with noticeably higher visitor numbers; still, I’d made the mistake of only attending for the first three days. So, this year, with all four days a certainty, and on the back of announcements by the organisers that they had booked a record number of exhibitors, levels of anticipation were at a maximum. Industry appetite for this year’s event was fuelled in part by the many press announcements ahead of the event. Whilst some were from the usual suspects, others inspired me to find out more. I’m pleased to report that there were numerous announcements of value at this year’s show. For me, new hardware and the latest technological developments were always going to be key themes to follow, and I targeted these innovations with great interest. On
Vol. 9 No. 4 © 2023 Inovar Communications Ltd
a broader note, what was noticeable this year was the diminishing dominance of Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) as a result of so many more metal AM technologies maturing and becoming commercially viable. Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-EB) machines were
certainly a lot more prevalent, and there were far more Directed Energy Deposition (DED) machines, both powder- and wire-based, than ever before. In this last respect, the show very much revealed that the AM world has gone ‘all in’ with robotics, and it
Fig. 1 Formnext 2023 attracted some 33,000 visitors, an increase of 11% on the previous year (Courtesy Mesago/Mathias Kutt)
Metal Additive Manufacturing | Winter 2023
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