Development and trends of additive manufacturing processes

After a short introduction about the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and its unique approach in applied research and a brief overview on the Fraunhofer IWU and its research topics in production technology, the presentation will give an outline on Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies and how they are classified. In more detail, available AM technologies for processing of metallic materials will be explained. AM's basic principle will be briefly introduced, highlighting freedom of design opportunities arising with AM. Latest developments and trends in Additive Manufacturing will be presented, including market data and a best practice example of today's industrial AM application. Specific research activities at Fraunhofer IWU will be shown with focus on metal AM and Laser Beam Melting as the specific technology of choice. Application potential of Additive Manufacturing in various industry sectors such as tooling, medical technology and component development will be highlighted. An outlook will be given on potential process improvements for faster industrial adoption of AM as a novel production technology.