As we know, the additive manufacturing market is very dynamic. Numerous companies want to position themselves with their approach and offer high-performance hardware and software to overcome challenges in AM. As a result, there is now a wide range of innovative technologies and an extensive spectrum of AM materials. These are opening the door to more and more possible applications in different sectors. However, with the increasing professionalization of 3D printing and its entry into high-performance sectors, the requirements are also increasing. The demand for reliable multi-material solutions is growing ever louder. One company that specializes in this is AMAREA Technology. The German start-up develops industrial 3D printers that can process several materials simultaneously, as well as the appropriate printing materials. With its technology, Multi Material Jetting, AMAREA Technology wants to inspire both existing and new users for additive multi-material production. The company is pursuing the major goal of working with its customers to use resources more efficiently, actively shaping the future of manufacturing. In an interview with the founders, we talked about the beginnings of the company, the motivation for founding it, multi-material jetting technology and its benefits.
3DN: Could you briefly introduce yourself and tell us how you got into 3D printing?
AMAREA Technology is a system developer and manufacturer of additive manufacturing machines for industrial applications that can process high-performance materials such as technical ceramics, metals, composites and polymers and, above all, combine them in a printing process, thus addressing the still relatively new field of multi-material 3D printing. The company has three founding partners, consisting of Steven Weingarten (CEO), Lutz Gollmer (COO) and Robert Johne (CTO). Steven Weingarten and Robert Johne both have a background in materials science and Mr. Gollmer has a background in business administration. Our origins lie in applied research. All founders worked for years at the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS), where the Multi Material Jetting technology was developed by Mr. Weingarten from 2014 and commercialized with the support of the EXIST research transfer program initiated by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate BMWK from 2021.
The AMAREA Technology team from left to right: Steven Weingarten (co-founder, CEO & Managing Partner), Robert Johne (co-founder + CTO), Philipp Horn (employee), Lutz Gollmer (co-founder, COO & Managing Partner)
The path to (multi-material) 3D printing began at Fraunhofer IKTS in 2014, when Steven Weingarten was still a student and faced the challenge of combining different technical ceramics, and at the same time, implementing this with a freedom of form that conventional manufacturing processes such as ceramic injection molding do not provide. The quickest and probably most unconventional solution at the time was to develop our own technology, which was launched under the name “Thermoplastic 3D Printing – T3DP”, as there was no commercially available technology on the market. After successful trials with oxide ceramics and later the combination of stainless steel with zirconium oxide, a system concept based on microdispensing systems was developed and the EU project CerAMfacturing significantly expanded the understanding of materials and processes for this new technology. In 2017, components consisting of up to four different materials were manufactured for the first time. Sintered glass with luminescent particles of different colors that glow when exposed to light or near-net-shape tool blanks made of carbide, whose mechanical properties are in no way inferior to conventionally manufactured components, could also be implemented in this way.
3DN: How did AMAREA come about, and what are your goals?
The success of the first experiments and the fascination for this technology – in particular the potential to integrate functionality directly into components and to miniaturize them – led us to broaden the technology and to bring it from research to application. At Fraunhofer, this usually happens via the mechanism of technology utilization. Thus, the technology now developed under the name Multi Material Jetting (MMJ) was able to find its way onto the market either via licensing or sale to established companies or, for example, via a spin-off in which a selected team from Fraunhofer IKTS took the step of commercializing the technology into their own hands. With the successful acquisition of the BMWK’s EXIST research transfer program, the positive evaluation in the transfer phase and the negotiation of licenses from the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, our story began in order to transfer the MMJ technology into a start-up independent of Fraunhofer. The response to the MMJ technology from the industry encouraged the founders to take the step into independence right from the start and so AMAREA Technology was founded in Dresden on February 3, 2023.
As a young company, we not only bring a breath of fresh air to the market, but also see ourselves as a technology-driven innovation partner – far beyond the role of a traditional hardware supplier. Our goal is to take additive manufacturing to the next level with multi-material technologies. To achieve this, we offer a holistic system consisting of 3D printers, customized materials and accompanying services along the entire value chain – from feasibility analysis, material selection and design development through to process integration.
The MMJ ProX6L multi-material 3D printer processes up to six different materials in one printing process.
With our Multi Material Jetting (MMJ) technology, we enable the industrial 3D printing of functional components made from up to six different materials – in a single, automated printing process. This allows mechanical, electrical, thermal or optical properties to be specifically combined in one component. This opens up completely new fields of application in sectors such as electronics, aerospace and energy technology. Our vision is to play our part in making 3D printing a driver of innovation for a new generation of technical products. We want to provide manufacturers, designers and, above all, developers with a tool to develop sustainable, intelligent and high-performance components through to assemblies that are either still considered impossible today or can only be produced with considerable additional effort, thereby contributing to sustainable industrial production.
3DN: How does MMJ technology work?
MMJ is a future-oriented additive manufacturing technology that uses thermoplastic materials. It is, so to speak, complementary to established manufacturing processes such as injection molding, but offers significantly more design freedom and greater material combination freedom. Instead of injecting material into complex molds, MMJ works similarly to an inkjet printer – but with high-precision, particle-filled droplets in the nanoliter range. These droplets consist of thermoplastic polymers filled with functional materials such as ceramics, metals, glasses or composite materials in powder form. The material is placed in a solid state in a material reservoir, where it is melted locally and selectively deposited as individual droplets via the print heads. When the droplets are “jetted”, they immediately fuse together and solidify within milliseconds. The special feature: By depositing material drop by drop, materials from different material classes can be deposited precisely and selectively and thus combined within complex geometries – structurally separated or functionally graded.
The result: multifunctional components with tailored properties, manufactured in just one production step. Only as much material is used as is actually needed – a clear advantage in terms of resource efficiency. MMJ technology is able to precisely parameterize process parameters such as droplet diameter and height: Droplet diameters from 200 to over 1000 µm and layer heights from 80 to 500 µm can be individually adjusted – even while the printing process is running. This enables geometry- and function-specific material dosing. The printed green parts can be removed directly from the build platform and sent for further thermal processing (in the form of debinding and sintering), resulting in components with final technical properties. In short: MMJ combines material, function and form in a single, digital process – efficient, scalable and ready for industrial use.
The material portfolio of AMAREA Technology. From oxide, nitride and carbide ceramics to sintered glasses, glass ceramics, hard metals and cermets to metals, polymers and particle-filled polymers – the range of processable materials is broad.
3DN: What are the biggest advantages of the technology? Who benefits most from it?
The biggest advantages are as follows:
- Material diversity & functionality: different materials – e.g. metals, ceramics, glasses – can be processed on one and the same 3D printer, but also, if the materials are co-sinterable, combined in a single printing process. This creates multifunctional components with customized properties.
- Precision & resource efficiency: drop-by-drop deposition enables maximum precision and resource efficiency: material is only deposited where it is functionally needed – saving resources and being efficient.
- Design freedom & complexity: Whether functionalization with simultaneous miniaturization, graded transitions, defined porosities, different materials and colors or complex geometries with fine structures and seamless material transitions, high-performance materials are brought into shape with MMJ technology.
- Digital & tool-free: The entire printing process can be controlled digitally and enables flexible, fast and individualized production – ideal for prototypes, small series, functional components and assemblies. The integrated profile sensor ensures the necessary quality assurance.
- Productive & innovative: MMJ technology is designed for future-oriented applications. Mono and multi-material components can be produced with up to six print heads simultaneously. Switching to a completely different print material takes less than an hour, so that the cross-material class material portfolio can be used in the shortest possible time. In the case of mono-material components, the material can be reused in the event of a misprint.
Users who particularly benefit from our MMJ technology are primarily research and development departments, manufacturers in the field of electronics and sensor technology, the aerospace industry, the automotive industry, medical technology and individualization, as well as start-ups and SMEs in the high-tech sector. In short: wherever innovation has to be thought of not only in terms of form, but above all in terms of function and where conventional manufacturing processes reach their limits – be it in terms of material diversity, geometric complexity, functionality or reducing the number of production steps – MMJ provides the decisive edge.
Left: This CAD graphic shows an example of a complex multi-material structure with an integrated conductor structure, e.g. for a heater or sensor layout. Right: Examples of 3D-printed components made from specifically combined materials for use in electronics (From left to right: ceramic + luminescent ceramic, LTCC + silver, glass + pure copper, ceramic + stainless steel.
3DN: What are the challenges?
Like every innovative key technology, multi-material jetting also faces specific challenges:
- Material development & compatibility: the interaction of different high-performance materials in a single manufacturing process requires in-depth material science expertise. Each material and material combination has its own requirements in terms of rheology, sintering behavior and others. We are aware of this challenge and have extensive in-house expertise in materials science.
- Standardization & scalability: Additive multi-material processes are still uncharted territory in many industries and research institutions. Accordingly, established standards, test methods and interfaces for integration into existing processes are sometimes lacking. This is where we provide our customers with advice.
- User know-how & rethinking: The potential of MMJ technology can only be leveraged if developers think “multi-material-compliant” at an early stage. This often requires a rethink in product development and requires interdisciplinary knowledge.
- Lack of resources: 3D printing is followed by debinding, sintering and, if necessary, further process steps such as surface treatment. The thermal processing must be adapted to the selected material system and not every customer has the appropriate infrastructure available when it comes to thermal processing. This is where AMAREA Technology makes its partner network available to acquire the necessary furnace technology or to use it as a service.
3DN: Do you have any final words for our readers?
Our vision is for our MMJ ProX 3D printers and their successors to be firmly established in a wide range of industries. We not only want to supply systems, but also develop solutions for the products of tomorrow together with our customers. In five years, we see ourselves where additive manufacturing with multiple materials is no longer just a promise of innovation, but an industrial standard for multifunctional, intelligent and sustainable components.
The AMAREA Technology team at Formnext.
We are at the beginning of a technological revolution in many areas, be it quantum computing, the mobility of tomorrow or additive manufacturing. In the AM sector in particular, it is no longer just the “what and how” that counts, but above all the “why.” With our MMJ technology, we want to support companies and developers in creating products that are smarter, more sustainable and more functional than ever before. To do this, we need curiosity, openness and strong partners who are willing to invest in the future – and this is exactly where we come in with AMAREA Technology. We invite everyone to join us in breaking new ground in additive manufacturing. Because we believe that the future is created where materials and functions are not thought of separately, but integrated. You can find out more about the company HERE.
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*Photo credits: AMAREA Technology GmbH. Cover picture: Luminous ceramics and glasses. The two rows of images on the left show 3D-printed components made of zirconium oxide in combination with a luminescent material. On the right are structured components made of luminescent glass, which can also be used for functional or aesthetic applications.