Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS
A dispenser or extruder applies a pasty material onto a substrate via capillaries. The fabrication of a workpiece takes place in a computer-controlled manner according to pre-defined forms (CAD) and sizes. The applied material is dried or, depending on the material, sintered. Typical materials are metals, semi-conductors, polymers, ceramics and composites. The simultaneous application of several capillaries enables the generation of function-adapted components made from several materials.
Compared to conventional ablative procedures, the Dispenser-Printing technology bears the fundamental benefits of no material losses and higher energy efficiency. This is due the material being directly applied into the desired form. Compared to injection moulding processes it offers the advantage that no elaborate form fabrication and no mould changes are necessary.
The achievable resolution is 75 µm on the x- and y axis and 25 µm on the z-axis.