The ExOne Company and the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials (Fraunhofer IFAM) announced they are deepening their partnership on binder and materials development projects following the success of CleanFuse™ metal binder.
Fraunhofer IFAM’s relationship with ExOne on metal binder jetting development spans more than two decades. In recent years, they have jointly refined and optimized CleanFuse, an ExOne binder based on a development by Fraunhofer IFAM. The result is a clean-burning binder for optimal 3D printing of stainless steels and premium metals.
Following this success, Fraunhofer IFAM and ExOne have decided to intensify their cooperation and are currently working on a CleanFuse version for processing reactive materials such as aluminum and titanium.
Fraunhofer IFAM has a strong foundation in the development and processing of metallic and polymer materials as well as comprehensive knowledge of additive manufacturing technologies. For research and development in the field of metal binder jetting, they work with a range of ExOne printers starting with the Innovent+ for material and process development. Recently, the institute has put the X1 25Pro production-speed metal binder jetting system into operation to investigate feasibility in the context of pilot and pre-series production.
