Formnext 2026 – From Idea to Finished Part

Our portfolio in additive manufacturing − from idea to finished part

Additive manufacturing involves a wide range of technologies. Fraunhofer IPK is at your side to establish additive manufacturing in your company. We support the entire additive manufacturing process chain, applying a variety of processes to meet different requirements and applications.

Preprocessing

Preprocessing includes all steps to prepare manufacturing. Aspects such as selecting the material, object geometry and placement of support structures are included while creating 3D models of the workpiece.

Processing

Processing, i.e., the actual printing process, begins after the printer has been prepared and configured based on the previously defined parameters. The selected material is applied in layers to build up an object.

Post-Processing

After manufacturing, postprocessing involves thorough cleaning, removal of ­support structures, and surface treatments ensure that the workpiece meets the required surface finish and dimensional accuracy specifications.

We support these steps e.g. in cold spray or selective electron beam melting and apply stream finishing for smooth surfaces. 

Metal powder is applied using a recoater in a chamber under vacuum and selectively melted by an electron beam. Unlike laser-based processes, the electromagnetically deflected electron beam operates inertia-free, maintaining multiple melt pools simultaneously and enabling virtually distortion-free manufacturing of thin- and thick-walled components, even at large scale. 

Our Wayland Calibur3 system with NeuBeam® charge neutralization prevents smoke events without the need for sintering of the powder bed, allowing processing of complex geometries with internal channels and cavities. Preheating temperatures of up to 1,000 °C under high vacuum facilitate processing of high-melting, highly reflective, and reactive materials such as nickel-based super alloys, tungsten, copper, and titanium aluminides. Near-isothermal build conditions largely avoid internal stresses and enable controlled microstructures. With an open machine architecture, custom process strategies for demanding applications in aerospace, medical, and energy technology become possible.

For more information on selective electron beam melting (SEBM) click here 

Solid powder particles are accelerated to speeds of up to 1,200 m/s, forming dense, well-bonded layers through plastic deformation alone without melting. This preserves material microstructures and avoids oxidation or thermally induced stresses, enabling processing of temperature-sensitive and otherwise non-weldable material combinations, including copper, aluminum or tool steels.

Advantages of cold spray 

• Minimal thermal distortion
• High-density coatings with excellent adhesion
• Build-up rates of up to 12 kg/h at up to 99 % material efficiency
• Enables joining of otherwise non-weldable material pairs
• Robot-guided process for large components exceeding 2 m

For more information on Cold Spray − additive manufacturing using kinetic energy − click here

Stream finishing is a highly efficient variant of free abrasive cutting, moving workpieces through abrasive media in a path-controlled manner. Flexible parameters such as immersion depth, angle, and rotational speed enable targeted machining of components with any complex geometry, making stream finishing ideal for additively manufactured parts with challenging surface structures.

A multi-stage process combining vibratory finishing and lapping produces mirror-smooth, pore-free surfaces with Ra < 0.01 μm. This minimizes surface defects that can lead to fatigue fractures, significantly improving component performance and service life.

The process offers high repeatability, low tool wear, and short cycle times. Thanks to automatable workpiece loading, it is suitable both for finishing complex individual additively manufactured parts and for cycle-bound mass production, for example in automotive applications

For more information on stream finishing of additively manufactured parts click here