Starting in the later half of 2020, Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials, in a strategic partnership with AddiFab, will offer services based on Freeform Injection Molding from three locations. Freeform Injection Molding (FIM) is based on 3D-printed injection mold inserts. This is an emerging new tool for injection molders, who want to offer the same design capabilities as 3D printing, but the same strength in finished parts as traditional injection molding. AddiFab is a Danish 3-D printing pioneer, who has invented a new technology called Freeform Injection Molding.
3D print a mold
“Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials is leading the field of metal replacement polymers,” says Randy White, Chief Innovations Officer. “We quickly realized that Freeform Injection Molding would allow us to offer new levels of light-weighting, and we have been working with AddiFab to bring our KyronMAX materials onto the FIM platform. 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.”
Injection fill the mold
“AddiFab has built Freeform Injection Molding to break key injection molding constraints,” says Lasse Staal, AddiFab CEO. “FIM lets the injection molder create injection-molded 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 molding industry, without compromising on the choice of materials.”
Release the final part.
The partnership between Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials and AddiFab is the natural next step in a collaboration that was established in 2019 and demonstrates the commitment of the parties to lead the field of high-end low-volume manufacturing. Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials will be offering Freeform Injection Molding to select customers from its Mesa, Arizona plant starting early Q3, and facilities in Tielt (Belgium) and Nagoya (Japan) will follow later in 2020.
AddiFab
www.addifab.com