Accelerating 3D Printing for Industrial Manufacturing
Henkel’s Adhesive Technology business enters the 3D printing market.
Based on strategic partnerships with technology leaders such as Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) and Carbon 3D, as well as investments into its R&D and application capabilities, Henkel intends to accelerate additive manufacturing processes beyond prototyping to final parts production with a growing portfolio of 3D printing solutions, including advanced materials, services, and equipment.
The worldwide interest in 3D printing (3DP), or additive manufacturing, continues to grow rapidly. The market for 3DP was recently estimated at $5 billion; by 2020, the market is expected to jump to $10-20 billion. Companies agree that 3DP technologies and materials have the potential to change value chains and businesses across many industries.
Currently, many companies are using the technology primarily for visualization and design prototypes, but nearly all industry experts say that 3DP will become a larger part of the general manufacturing process. It will reduce commercialization time and costs while also enabling the production of customized products—from automotive to medical and even footwear. For that to happen, the development of advanced and customized materials needs to change.
3DP is a new mountain to climb for Henkel, but one that the Adhesive Technology business unit is aiming to tackle. “We are convinced that this is the market to get involved with next,” said Michael Todd, global head of innovation at Henkel Adhesive Technologies.
A Layered Approach
Advancing into 3DP is not a sudden move for Henkel Adhesive Technologies. The adhesives business unit—which makes up roughly 50% of Henkel’s annual sales—has been expanding its presence and know-how in additive manufacturing for the past several years.
Henkel first made its move into 3DP in 2013 when it teamed up with the Dutch design and architecture startup DUS Architects to construct a 3D-printed house façade using Henkel hot-melt adhesives. Known as the canal house project, a giant 3D printer is printing 42 components for the façade and interior walls. In 2015, Henkel also supplied a specially formulated polyamide for a dynamic 3DP façade of the “Europe Building”—a mobile conference building in Amsterdam for the Dutch EU Council Presidency.
At its Heidelberg, Germany, site, Henkel has started to integrate 3DP into its application development process for the automotive industry. By creating 3D-printed functional prototypes for the testing of novel acoustic and structural solutions, the company leverages the inherent speed of the technology and reduces the requirement for prototype tooling. Henkel can now 3D print a CAD-data part and test it before a final design has been confirmed. This process accelerates the time to design and validate solutions for automotive weight reduction and acoustic performance improvements.