Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials (MCAM) is to begin offering a Freeform Injection Molding (FIM) service in collaboration with AddiFab later this year.
The company will provide this service from its facilities in Mesa, Arizona; Tielt, Belgium; and Tokyo and Nagoya in Japan. It represents a significant expansion of the relationship between Mitsubishi and AddiFab, which began in 2019 with the former’s venture arm, Diamond Edge Ventures, investing in the latter.
Freeform Injection Molding is AddiFab’s flagship technology, based on 3D printed injection mould inserts and designed to allow users to access the design capabilities of 3D printing while maintaining the performance of traditionally manufactured parts. It also gives manufacturers the ability to prototype components in the same material they intend to move into manufacturing with.
For Mitsubishi Chemical, it has been seen as a method of harnessing some of the benefits of 3D printing, without waiting for technology to develop enough to process some of its higher-performing materials. It led the company to provide financial support to AddiFab in the autumn of 2019 and less than a year later the companies have expanded their collaboration.
Read more:
- One shot story: AddiFab "combines benefits of 3D printing with injection moulding"
- AddiFab receives investment from Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation’s US venture arm
- AddiFab receives EU grant to boost Freeform Injection Molding technology
Speaking to TCT last year, AddiFab CEO Lasse Staal referenced the opportunities available via its relationship with Mitsubishi, stating a ‘very interesting journey’ lay ahead. With this announcement, the partners have made the first step in that journey, and will give customers in three continents access to FIM and thousands of Mitsubishi Chemical materials.
“AddiFab has built Freeform Injection Molding to break key injection moulding constraints,” commented Staal. “FIM lets the injection moulder create injection-moulded objects with the same design freedom offered by conventional 3D printing. At the same time, we have brought 3D printing lead-times and start-up costs to the injection moulding industry, without compromising on the choice of materials. We look forward to working with MCAM on adding entirely new dimensions to the fields of generative design and topology optimisation, and to redefining the way metal replacement materials are using in weight reductions.”
“We quickly realised that Freeform Injection Molding would allow us to offer entirely new levels of light-weighting and we have been working with AddiFab to bring our KyronMAX materials onto the FIM platform,” added Randy White, the company’s Chief Innovations Officer. “When we were able to drive an 8,000-pound pick-up truck onto a KyronMAX lattice weighing only 70 grams, we knew we were onto something.”
The FIM service will commence in Arizona in Q3, with the Europe and Asia operations following later in 2020.
