Faster, cheaper, lighter: foaming tools made of aluminium
A foaming tool made of aluminium – manufactured in just a few days. Thanks to a cost-effective aluminium printing process, Siegfried Hofmann GmbH, in cooperation with GROB-WERKE GmbH & Co. KG is now offering this extremely efficient mould solution for particle foam.
They are lighter than their stainless-steel counterparts, corrosion-resistant and allow for optimum vapour deposition, venting and homogeneous filling. At the same time, they are faster and more flexible to manufacture: The new generation of additively manufactured aluminium particle foam moulds from Hofmann and GROB.


Thanks to GROB’s liquid metal printing process, depending on the complexity of the project, it can take as little as a week from the start of the design to the first foaming in the mould. Ideal for series parts with basic surface quality requirements, the lightweight moulds are also the best solution for short-term prototype testing of materials, spraying and evaporation.
“We are particularly proud of the rapid production of the additively manufactured aluminium foam moulds,” says Stefan Hofmann, Managing Director of Siegfried Hofmann GmbH. “We only needed a third of the time to produce our demonstrator tool compared to its 3D printed steel counterpart.”
The moulds develop their maximum performance especially in combination with the BEAD.MACHINE particle foam moulding machine from Hofmann. Up to 50 % porosity in the mould insert ensures maximum evaporation of the raw material – so even large parts can be produced without any problems. At the same time, the very high number of steam nozzles results in shorter cycle times due to faster heating and cooling processes.
Also practical: different mould inserts for one product can easily be used with just one mould frame. This saves costs and speeds up the production process.

The GROB Metal Printing process, also known as Molten Metal Jetting, is characterised by high system flexibility, low component production costs and high system reliability. This means that the process can be easily integrated into any existing production setup.
Interested companies can see a liquid metal printing mould demonstrator in action by registering with Hofmann.

Your contact for particle foam
Dirk Bernhardt
Project Director - Particle foam / BEAD.MACHINE
T: +49 9571 766-9660
vertrieb@hofmann-impulsgeber.de