The potential of additive manufacturing is not even close to exhausted. Among other things, the 3D industry still lacks comprehensible digitised knowledge about materials, manufacturing processes and how they interact. This complex issue is the subject of a top-class research project in which WEBER additives is involved.

Fibre composites are playing an increasingly important role in additive manufacturing, because they lend the components with which they are made very high strength in the case of low material usage and low weight (specific strength). Such properties are in high demand in countless areas of technology and everyday life.
Fibre-reinforced materials have one special feature, however: their micro-structure is only created during the moulding process. Therefore, the properties of a product manufactured additively from fibre composites depend not only on the starting material, but also on the production process and the component concept. Moreover, the result of this interaction has hardly been explored so far.

Mastering complex interrelationships
If we want to understand and master the complex interrelationships and be able to use them in production processes in a targeted manner, they must be analysed and presented in a comprehensible manner. The three-year OntOMat research project, titled "Sustainable ontology-based development and optimisation solutions for fibre-reinforced materials and their manufacturing processes," aims to achieve precisely this goal.

'Ontology' finds its roots in philosophy as a sub-discipline primarily concerned with the fundamental structures of reality. Today, the term is also used in scientific contexts, for example, the description of self-organising processes and systems in which new properties or structures can form through the interaction of their elements.

Tapping into new potential
The project consortium, with the participation of WEBER additives, aims to tap into previously untapped potential in this area with an ontological representation of the interrelationships in the manufacturing of products from fibre-reinforced materials. In concrete terms, the work aims to optimise the development of new materials and processes, and to enhance the recycling of raw materials.
As part of the project, WEBER additives is developing an ontological description of the extrusion process with short-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics using the additive material extrusion (MEX) process.  Aided by test processes and test components, WEBER experts simplify data acquisition and validate the ontologies.
The OntOMat project partners expect that their work will, among other things, offer the foundation for predicting the effects of parameter changes. This knowledge can be used to specifically optimise the material micro-structure and the properties of components as well as their recyclability.

The contributors to the project consortium are listed below:
●    Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
●    Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoffmechanik IWM
●    Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.
●    FASERINSTITUT BREMEN e.V
●    Bremer Institut für angewandte Strahltechnik GmbH
●    Nexpirit GmbH 
●    Hans Weber Maschinenfabrik GmbH