Sustainable workpieces have been produced from renewable raw materials or local waste materials in the SAMSax real-world laboratory at TU Bergakademie Freiberg since 2022. An innovative binder jetting printer is now taking the technology known as 3D printing to a new level: up to eight print heads, each with over 1000 nozzles and up to four inks, can create new applications from almost any conceivable sustainable material in the one cubic metre printing chamber. The finished workpieces then dry in the printer and can be further processed directly.

Freiberg/Germany, December 16th, 2024. ‘The new 3D printer brings us even closer to our major goal of enabling sustainable and ecological value creation for Saxon industry,’ says Henning Zeidler, Professor of Additive Manufacturing at TU Bergakademie Freiberg. Zeidler’s project team has already proven that this vision can be realised locally: Over the past two years, the researchers have worked with partners from agriculture and industry to produce a sustainable stage set made from miscanthus grass or stiffening structures for a camping table made from recycled denim dust, for example. Other raw materials that have already been tested include wood shavings and dust from sawmills, chaff straw from harvesting machines, hazelnut shells from the food industry, erosion sludge from the metalworking and manufacturing sector and mineral residues from mining.

Thanks to its large installation space of one cubic metre and its highly flexible material openness, the new printer enables the development of innovative products directly on site according to the motto ‘test before invest’. This gives small and medium-sized companies the opportunity to utilise the innovative technology and residual material analysis in the SAMSax real laboratory without having to invest in their own machinery.

Digital platform ensures further training and knowledge exchange

Together with the technical universities in Chemnitz and Dresden, the real-world laboratory is now realising further practical projects using a digital knowledge management platform. Small and medium-sized companies can use this platform to obtain information and provide their employees with targeted further training. To this end, the Reallabor team provides its partners with digital decision-making aids on the platform, such as the material composition of each individual product or information on technologies and process chains. ‘This not only identifies suitable raw and residual materials in Saxony’s small and medium-sized enterprises as potential, but also connects Saxony’s industrial companies with each other and with research,’ says Professor Henning Zeidler.

Background: About SAMSax

The establishment of the SAMSax real-world laboratory has been supported by the Saxon State Ministry for Regional Development via the simul+ InnovationHub with almost 1.7 million euros since April 2022. The project aims to make the approach visible and to establish and maintain innovation partnerships for sustainable transfer to the Saxon economy. The practical projects implemented with various SMEs demonstrate a prototypical circular economy. The consortium includes the Freiberg Chair of Additive Manufacturing (Prof. Henning Zeidler), Prof. Angelika Bullinger-Hoffmann, Chair of Ergonomics and Innovation Management, Chemnitz University of Technology, and Prof. André Wagenführ, Chair of Wood Technology and Fibre Materials Engineering, Dresden University of Technology.

Translated with DeepL_com

Further Information:

(https://blogs.hrz.tu-freiberg.de/samsax/)

PIRO Pixabay, Einrichtungsgegenstände aus Gras, Bühnenbild aus Holzstaub