HYBRID-3D

In 2014, U.S. economist Jeremy Rifkin announced with conviction that 3D printing would usher in the next industrial revolution. However, the hype surrounding additive manufacturing has now levelled off due to the lack of economic efficiency in industrial production. Nevertheless, it is undisputed that additive manufacturing will significantly change production in the future.

From our point of view, hybrid additive manufacturing will be the next stage in the development of additive manufacturing. Hybrid manufacturing in this context means the integrative combination of different manufacturing procedures, e.g. additive and subtractive processing. The approach is to sensibly complement the advantages of different processes while at the same time compensating for the respective disadvantages. Due to the resulting expansion of manufacturing possibilities, many people regard hybrid additive manufacturing as the cornerstone of future-oriented production.

A further aspect of hybridisation of additive manufacturing is the combination of different materials. This opens up a wide range of new possibilities from the focused integration of properties and functionalities into components to the first-time processing of materials that were previously not suitable for additive manufacturing. The functionalisation of materials themselves also offers great potential here. The combination and functionalisation/integration of materials makes hybrid components that were previously not realisable and complex hybrid components can be produced economically. 

Our vision is to grow a long-term community of leading European minds, movers and shakers in hybrid additive manufacturing which becomes the foundation of a globally competitive European position in the field of hybrid additive 3D manufacturing. The community is pooling different expertise from various areas to overcome the current limits of additive manufacturing in industrial applications and to enable a new and more economical value chain of hybrid additive 3D manufacturing.

The network HYBRID-3D has set itself a goal to build and strengthen supply chains and long-term relationships between the partners. We will be kicking this off through supporting the identification of individual project-consortia and facilitating international projects within the public funding framework.

Another objective is the development of new manufacturing technologies for hybrid additive 3D manufacturing processes. This includes not only the development of new processes, technologies and equipment for the (hybrid) additive production of (hybrid) components but also their integration into industrial manufacturing processes and the development of new systems for (online) process and quality monitoring and controlling.

From a global perspective, HYBRID-3D aims to increase the competitiveness of Europe in the field of hybrid additive 3D manufacturing technologies and processes.