High resolution laser-wire additive manufacturing for a new generation of lightweight structures

Purpose and goal:

This project has shown that structures with wall thickness down to 1mm can be built with additive manufacturing with a surface that does not require post-processing. The new process has been evaluated by successfully building a structure with internal cooling channels equivalent to a rocket nozzle. The technology has been demonstrated on a reduced scale in a real industrial environment.

A simulation model has also been developed that can predict temperature history during deposition and thus define an appropriate parameter window for the full-scale component. Expected results and effects:

Manufacturers of complex lightweight parts are looking for better alternatives to today´s traditional manufacturing methods and their high costs, long lead times and potentially suboptimal structures from a weight perspective. The project has shown that thin structures down to 1mm can be built without requirements on post-processing and with material properties close to forging, which provides completely new opportunities for optimized and competitive manufacturing of complex lightweight structures with shorter lead times, reduced costs and reduced waste.

Approach and implementation:

The project is a collaboration between Procada and Luleå Tekniska Universitet and is divided into five work packages. During the first three work packages, a suitable demonstrator was selected based on a real space component, the test set-up was defined and a demonstrator was manufactured after an initial process development. In parallel, a simulation model has been developed and validated with experimental data within the fourth work package.

Finally, within work package five, the results were disseminated to the European Space Agency and other actors.