Additive manufacturing is revolutionizing common production processes. 3D printing is already state-of-the-art in customized product prototyping, individualized consumer design manufacturing and dental replacement therapy as intricate geometries can be precisely fabricated based on computer-aided designs. These products are often made from a single material only. Yet more and more research efforts focus on multi-material systems and gradients within the generated architectures. Today, these complex architectures are assumed completed once fabricated. 4D printing has been coined as a term for 3D printed objects that implement a dynamic and responsive behavior. 4D manufacturing is anticipated to open new routes to yet unknown functionalities of the printed objects.
The meeting will be organized in a former monastery close to Cologne. It is easy to reach for national and international visitors, but sufficiently secluded to give it a character of spatial focus. The program is organized such that there is ample time for discussion groups during the afternoon. The scientific culture is intended to be similar to a Gordon Conference. M. Wessling has been co-organizer of a Gordon Research Conference in 2006.