Kompetenzzentrum zur Additiven Fertigung anorganisch – nichtmetallischer Werkstoffe – 3DKeramik
A project group at Forschungsinstitut für Glas – Keramik (FGK), supported by funding of the Ministry of the Economy of Rhineland-Palatinate (MWVLW) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), is currently working on the establishment of an infrastructure and the development of know-how for additive manufacturing of inorganic-non-metallic materials, which will result in the first competence center for additive manufacturing of the aforementioned material group in Rhineland-Palatinate, named 3DKeramik.
Additive manufacturing processes are regarded as future-oriented cross-sectional and key technologies for almost all industries. The market potential is estimated to be correspondingly large. A major advantage of these processes is that they can be manufactured individually according to customer requirements and at the same time economically. The product properties allow an almost unlimited variety of geometries and designs and thus offer countless possible applications, for example in the engineering and design sector or in medicine for bone and tooth replacements, implants and prostheses.
Over a period of three and a half years, the three partners – Forschungsinstitut für Glas – Keramik (FGK), Koblenz University of Applied Sciences and the University of Koblenz-Landau – are pooling their proven expertise in working with inorganic non-metallic and, in particular, ceramic materials in order to better adapt existing printing processes to the wide range of material types. At 3DKeramik, these range across the entire spectrum of ceramic materials – from silicate ceramics, refractory ceramics, technical ceramics, including transparent ceramics, to multi-material printing.
The aim is to identify economic processes that, taken together, overcome the obstacles of the state of the art. To this end, the manufacturing processes to be applied individually to the material must basically be considered holistically along the entire process chain, which takes into account the raw materials, the binder groups and the sintering in the same way as the printing processes.
The main location of 3DKeramik is the CeraTechCenter in Höhr-Grenzhausen in the Kannenbäckerland, a cultural landscape with the largest clay deposit in Europe. In addition to traditional ceramic crafts, the ceramics industry and numerous educational and research institutions related to glass and ceramics have also established themselves here.
More Information: www.3d-keramik.com
