Direct Manufacturing Research Center Formed between University and Industry Leading Companies

By DE Editors

Boeing, EOS Electro Optical Systems, Evonik Industries and MCP HEK Tooling have joined with the University of Paderborn (Paderborn, Germany)  to form the Direct Manufacturing Research Center (DMRC).

The companies and the universities aim to further the development of direct manufacturing processes and systems, i.e., the automatic,  layered fabrication of component parts on the basis of a computer model. The combined expertise of the industrial partners ranging from aerospace, material production and equipment manufacturing coupled with the research capabilities of the University of Paderborn offers the opportunity to reduce parts production costs and enhance the ability to fabricate more complex and functional component parts. The DMRC is scheduled to open in fall 2008.

Located at the Universityof Paderborn, the DMRC will builds on the University’s competencies in mechanical engineering (i.e.,  mechanics, lightweight construction, particle technology, polymer technology,  mechatronics) and in chemistry (polymer materials, interface processes) as well as computer sciences.

Research at the DMRC will be led by University of Paderborn professors and carried out by its technical staff and students. Seconded staff members from industry also will contribute and partly work on joint projects at the DMRC. The focus of DMRC’s research will be on improvement of the processes for laser sintering/melting technology for metal and plastic powder, and industry requirements for materials, training, and standards development.

For further information, please visit DMRC  or University of Paderborn.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.