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The 4th sinter-based AM workshop
Insight from Fraunhofer IFAM’s 4th Workshop on Sinter-based Additive Manufacturing: A status update The 4th Workshop on Sinter-based Additive Manufacturing, organised by Fraunhofer IFAM, in Bremen, Germany, took place from September 13-14 2023. It convened global experts to discuss advancements and challenges in the field. The workshop explored the maturation and potential applications of sinter-based AM technologies and highlighted the latest technical advances. Sonja Böske da Costa reports on the workshop’s presentations and discussions.
At the 4 th Workshop on Sinter-based Additive Manufacturing, organised by Fraunhofer IFAM in Bremen, Germany, the ‘who’s who’ of this dynamic branch of metal AM made it their mission to address the biggest challenges that this area of the technology faces, consider if and where progress has been made, and explore what happens now, after the ‘AM hype’ of recent years. Without giving it all away, by the end of the event the answer was clear: the technology has matured immensely over the past few years and, as a group of manufacturing processes, sinter-based AM has found more than just a niche. Every aspect of the technology is constantly developing and maturing, from powders to binders, furnaces to process automation. The audience at the workshop was an international mix of suppliers, researchers, and users. During and between presentations, the discussions were very open about understanding the current status quo, the challenges, and exploring the quo vadis. On the first day, following a welcome by Fraunhofer
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IFAM’s Dr Sebastian Boris Hein, Head of Department Powder Technology, the opening session featured a statistics-based presentation on current and future addressable markets for sinter-based AM by Bastian Barthel, AMPOWER, and a hands-on ‘how to’ talk on debinding and sintering technology by Stefan Joens, Elnik Systems LLC.
Both agreed that the Binder Jetting (BJT) technology landscape is maturing. From stainless steel valves to surgical jaws and smart watches – anything appears to be possible. Barthel presented a projection that forecasts that Binder Jetting will see a significantly increasing share of metal AM machine sales between now
Fig. 1 Delegates at the 4 th Workshop on Sinter-based Additive Manufacturing, in Bremen, Germany (Courtesy Fraunhofer IFAM))
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