At the JEC DACH Forum 2023, Swen Zaremba and Dominik Boos received the AVK Innovation Award in the category "Research and Science" on behalf of the consortium consisting of Apppex, Haas Metallguss and TUM (projects Fassad & Givewashy). We are also delighted to have successfully presented the technology at the 63rd International Foundrymen Conference in Portoroz and been granted a European patent (EP3984715).

The innovation comprises a new lost core material and various manufacturing processes for its production. Lost cores allow the designer completely new design freedom that conventional tools cannot realize. Depending on the part geometry and process conditions, there are high demands on the core material, which must be robust enough to withstand a filling process but also easy to remove. The material combination is based on the concept of fiber-reinforced ceramics. A water-soluble salt (e.g. NaCl) is combined with a short or continuous fiber reinforcement that transforms the originally brittle fracture behavior into a pseudo-ductile one. Fiber-reinforced salt serves as a lost core material with high strength, density and impermeability that can be washed out with water and recycled. It is suitable for processes that place high thermomechanical demands on a water-soluble core material, such as injection molding, RTM or light metal die casting.