World premiere: KraussMaffei presents Additive Manufacturing

Munich, October 19, 2022 — Additive manufacturing (3D printing) for industrial use is one of the key innovations from KraussMaffei. The powerPrint and precisionPrint open up new fields of application along the value chain of plastic components for additive manufacturing with plastic granules or resin-based 3D printing materials. This opens up new market opportunities for modern plastics processors, but also for users from other sectors such as medical technology, the construction industry and the foundry industry.

“KraussMaffei is opening up additive manufacturing technology for industrial production. We use our know-how from the series production of plastic parts to design efficient system concepts and can offer the right solution for every component regardless of the technology,” explains KraussMaffei CEO Dr. Michael Ruf. “Our aim is to implement our standards of productivity, quality and efficiency from industrial plastics processing for additive manufacturing solutions as well.”

The powerPrint is the reliable and fast industrial solution for additive manufacturing in large formats up to 10 m³. This enables efficient production of near-net-shape components. The powerPrint is an extruder-based system for processing thermoplastic granules.

 “The advantages for the customer: Optimum component properties are achieved with low material costs. Short set-up times and the use of common software solutions for print preparation also enable fast implementation from component design to printing. The goals of our development were the optimal application-specific processing of thermoplastic materials to ensure production according to industrial standards,” explains Rolf Mack, Head of Additive Manufacturing . Compared to conventional technologies, the powerPrint solution offers high output at high printing speeds and thus enables short throughput times for large components. The principle of dividing printing and milling operations allows maximum flexibility and system utilization with low investment costs. A wide range of fiber-reinforced plastics and compounds can be processed.

precisionPrint – automated machine concept for the highest quality and resolution

The precisionPrint is a high-performance SL (stereolithographic additive manufacturing) additive manufacturing solution.

With the precisionPrint, KraussMaffei presents a high-performance SL (stereolithography) solution. This is suitable for automated production on an industrial scale. The precisionPrint is a manufacturing solution with high output rates for the cost-efficient manufacture of plastic parts with the highest demands on surface quality and detail resolution. The highly automated system is based on printing resins that are cured by laser.

The precisionPrint supports plastics processors along the entire product life cycle and opens up market opportunities for individualized products and smaller production lots .  “Production with almost no loss of material and great design options – we bring these advantages of additive manufacturing from prototyping to industrial series production of plastic components ,” adds Mack. “Together with our customers, we rethink system concepts and find efficient additive manufacturing solutions for a wide variety of application areas.”

Next year we will go into an intensive test phase with beta customers, after which the printers will be available on the market.