K2022 NEWS
KraussMaffei launches two new 3D printing technologies
KraussMaffei has formed a new additive manufacturing technology business and showed its first two 3D printers on its K2022 stand last month. The PowerPrint line is a large-format extrud- er-based system for process- ing thermoplastic granulates. PrecisionPrint uses a different process, stereolithography, and is intended for smaller batch production. The company is starting an intensive test phase with beta customers next year, after which the printers will be available on the market. Michael Ruf, CEO, said additive manufacturing machines will become the fourth pillar of the Krauss- Maffei group (in addition to injection moulding, extru- sion and reactive produc- tion). “KraussMaffei is opening up additive manufacturing technology for industrial production,” he said. “Using our expertise gleaned from series production of plastic parts, we are designing efficient system concepts and appropriate solutions for every component, regard- less of the technology. For us, this is about taking our capacity for productivity, quality and efficiency in industrial plastics process- ing and applying it to additive manufacturing solutions.” The technologies will be sold first in Europe and the US, followed by other regions around the world. Ruf said at KraussMaffei’s
20
Above: Visitors gathered round KraussMaffei’s PowerPrint additive manufacturing machine at the launch of new 3D printers on the group’s K2022 stand
K2022 press conference that adoption of 3D printing in the injection industry has made slow progress. “It still takes time to convince customers of the benefits of additive manufacturing,” he said.
Large and small PowerPrint offers high discharge rates at fast printing speeds, enabling short throughput times for large components, with a build volume up to 10 m³, said KraussMaffei. A wide variety of fibre-reinforced plastics and compounds can be processed. At a stand unveiling, K2022 visitors clustered around the PowerPrint machine that was producing a complexly structured component. Nearby, application samples from the foundry industry were on display.
INJECTION WORLD | November/December 2022
PrecisionPrint has been developed for smaller part production (build volume of 250 mm x 250 mm x 450 mm) with the highest quality and resolution, and little material loss. “The aim is to print parts that come out ‘right first time’,” said Michael Heineder, Head of Additive Manufacturing, at the press event. The “power” and “preci-
sion” prefixes are also being used by KraussMaffei for new injection moulding machine series for standard applications. At K2022, sales in Europe and North America were started for the all-electric PrecisionMolding machine, available world- wide in the clamping force sizes from 500 to 3,200 kN, and the hydraulic Power- Molding two-platen ma- chine, which will be avail- able from 1 January
worldwide in the clamping force sizes from 6,500 to 16,000 kN. One of the key features
of the new machines is shorter delivery times, said Xiaojun Cui, Executive VP New Machines Business, at K2022. Both machine series are standardised, designed using a modular concept with a customised selection of options that allows them to be made available quickly.
At K2022, KraussMaffei showed a PowerMolding 1300-11900 with a clamping force of 13,000 kN produc- ing front-end carriers. This was part of a circular economy demonstration, in which insulin pen caps made of PP were recycled and fed to the PowerMolding machine for production of the automotive component. �
www.kraussmaffei.com
www.injectionworld.com
IMAGE: D ELDRIDGE
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