Home Industry 5Questions – Interview with Tony Tran-Mai, CEO of Indmatec

5Questions – Interview with Tony Tran-Mai, CEO of Indmatec

Tony Tran-Mai founded Indmatec together with his friend Professor Dr. Brando Okolo in Karlsruhe, Germany. The manufacturer of specialised industrial filaments is one of Europe´s experts on materials for FFF 3D printing.

Robotics specialist Lars Pfotzer joined the team during the founding phase. A lot has been achieved since then. Together they brought a PEEK filament for FFF 3D printing to the market which recently got the certification for use in medical devices.

How did you first make contact with additive technologies or 3D printing?
Tran-Mai_portrait
Tony Tran-Mai: It all started in September 2013 with my good friend and co-founder Prof. Dr. Brando Okolo. We talked about a collaborative research project in the field of 3D printing which he was conducting with groups in Egypt as he then held a professorship at the German university in Cairo. We both then had the idea to found a company pursuing innovative activities in the 3D printing sector, with a goal to do something really uniqueIn April 2014 we finally founded Indmatec.

In wich industries do you see the most potential for your product line? Did additive technology already entered industries you didn´t think of?
The fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing method, on which we are specialized with focus on high performance polymers, can be used by companies of any size and for different industrial applications. For example, our technology can be used for the production of small parts or for prototyping. This technology is extremely material efficient and offers many opportunities for the production of different functional parts.

A business area we are keenly exploring is the medical sector. As seen in our recently published press release, we received a qualification on our PEEK filament for applications in the medical practice for production of components up to class IIa. We envisage that our printer and our materials will be used in the medical sector for prostheses and dentures. These kinds of parts are patient-specific therefore perfect for the FFF technology.

How would you describe the connections in the 3D Printing ecosystem (hardware, software, materials,…)? Is one part of the ecosystem that is more important than the others?
In additive manufacturing, there are many properties, parameters and conditions which need to be controlledThe entire process environment has to be harmonized. Of course the hardware has to work properly, so the best quality will be realizedLikewise the software is really important too allowing of an easy operation of the printerThe challenge is to set every single parameter for the filament material being processedAt Indmatec one of our main competences is the materials. The material sets the industrial relevance of the additive manufacturing tool to be used. We are working hard to identify, select and test new materials,ensuring that the key materials properties are preserved both in the filament form and the printed part form.

As a pioneer in the filament market for industrial materials will we see more materials from Indmatec in the near future?
With our entrance into the filament market with for the first time an offer on PEEK as a filament for 3D printing, it became certain to us that there is a high demand for other high performance polymers. At the moment Indmatec now offers different high performance polymers as filament, such as PVDFUltem 1000 and POM-C. Our R&D group is workingpersistently to make printable other technically interesting polymers for the FFF 3D technology. We are especially delighted by the market launch of our PEEK MedTec, which can be used to produce medical devices; our medical product suit would surely be extended.

What are the next steps for Indmatec. Can you tell us something about future plans?
The next step is to optimize our 3D printer to print high quality precise medical components like dental crowns and insert parts having narrow dimensional tolerances. Our engineers are already working on the new version of the printer, with schedule to release it as soon as possible. Despite that, there are in-development versions of the printer and the filament for producing prostheses in progress. We want to do something profoundly progressive in the denture and prostheses medical sector.

If you are interested in more news about Indmatec you can find them here in our news section or on the homepage of IndmatecRinkak and Rinkak MMS.

You also can find more 5Questions-interviews of other industry experts.


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