CORDIS

The STIM-MC project began in January 2019, and has the overall objective of establishing the AddiFab Freeform Injection Molding (FIM) production platform in the metal and ceramic injection molding industries. AddiFab enables the FIM production platform by developing, producing and selling the associated hardware and materials.

FIM is a hybrid of 3D printing and injection molding. The main benefit is that it allows the production of 3D printable shapes with injection molding materials. As there are thousands of commercially available and certified injection molding materials, the FIM platform offers unprecedented degrees of freedom for the designer, and greatly accelerates the production speed of prototypes in true production materials with much reduced costs. Two groups of injection molding materials which are associated with large tooling costs are metal and ceramics injection molding.

STIM-MC contains hardware, process and materials development as well as demonstration and marketing activities, which serve to give AddiFab a strong and unique position in the metal and ceramic injection molding industries, constituting a globally projected market of $5.7 billion in 2022.

Currently half-way through the project, the interest from the injection molding industry has proven to be massive, with normal numbers of sales leads from presence at trade fairs in the hundreds, and six successful collaborations with European metal and ceramic injection molding companies, with numerous active demonstration cases active. The development activities are also progressing, establishing FIM as a larger-than-AddiFab concept. STIM-MC has made it possible for AddiFab to attract additional funding in the form of minority investment by Mitsubishi Chemical.

For the remaining half of the project, the number of collaborations and demonstration activities is expected to increase further, cementing the already considerable traction FIM and AddiFab is experiencing. These activities are supported by the continuous optimization of process parameters and finalization of hardware offerings.