Press Releases 2019

On November 5, 2019, Dr. Thomas Weißgärber, head of the Dresden Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Korean Hanyang University to promote relations with the application-oriented research unit ERICA (Education-Research-Industry Cluster at Ansan).

The Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Dresden has succeeded in using Selective Electron Beam Melting (SEBM) to produce copper components that have not previously been shown using this process.

Together with the H+E-Produktentwicklung GmbH in Moritzburg, Saxony, the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Dresden has developed a true-to-scale gas turbine that impressively demonstrates the current potentials and limitations of powder bed-based additive technologies.

Six Fraunhofer Institutes have demonstrated the individualization of single products in mass production environments by the employment of digital printing and laser technologies. This substantial progress provides completely new opportunities for design and weight reduction by material savings.

Dipl.-Ing. Christian Möller, deputy leader of the Integrated Production Systems group in the Automation and Production Technology department of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Stade, Germany, has been presented with the Wright Brothers Medal 2019 by Dr. h.c. Paul Mascarenas, B.Sc., President of SAE International, at the Aerotech Americas Congress 2019 in Charleston, South Carolina, USA, in front of an international audience on behalf of the authors of the publication entitled "Real Time Pose Control of an Industrial Robotic System for Machining of Large Scale Components in Aerospace Industry Using Laser Tracker System".

At the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Dresden, a new type of iron powder has been successfully processed and tested, which answers one of the cost questions in additive manufacturing and opens up new possibilities.

The wax injection molding process is used to produce models for investment casting quickly and easily. For a non-destructive demolding of the wax parts, silicone-based release agents have had to be used until now, which come along with considerable disadvantages for man and product. In an AiF-funded project, developers at Fraunhofer IFAM have succeeded in developing a release agent-free release layer system that provides a sustainable permanent coating on the tool. The so-called ReleasePLAS® technology offers both technical and economic advantages and will be presented at GIFA 2019 (Hall 13, Booth A34).

Within the EU project "Riblet4Wind", a team of seven project partners faced the challenge of making the aerodynamics of wind turbines more efficient. One approach was to reduce air resistance. In aircraft construction, it was shown that the functional coating developed at Fraunhofer IFAM with microscopically small grooves – called riblet paint – reduces air resistance and saves fuel.

On April 1, 2019, Dr. Thomas Weißgärber has taken over the provisional management of the Dresden branch of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM. He takes over the responsibility of Prof. Bernd Kieback, who has been head of the institute for many years and has now retired.

At the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Dresden, the "Innovation Center Additive Manufacturing" (ICAM®) was inaugurated on March 7, 2019. Here, the Dresden research institute combines various technologies for additive manufacturing in a newly constructed technology hall in order to be able to demonstrate to partners and users a wide range of possibilities for the generative manufacturing of three-dimensional components under one roof in the future.