A European consortium of twenty-six partners from eleven countries has launched a €17 million project with the aim of developing a novel end-to-end solution capable of demonstrating the potential of Directed Energy Deposition (DED) processes for the metal Additive Manufacturing of certified large components in strategic metalworking sectors.
The project, titled Intergradde, will see the partners collaborate to develop a new manufacturing methodology capable of ensuring the manufacturability, reliability and quality of a target metal component from the initial product design. It is expected to combine research on building strategy optimisation, multi-scale and multi-physics modelling, hardware-independent building processes, automatic building strategy generation, online self-adaptive control and inline quality assurance for the manufacturing of certified metal parts.
The project will reportedly focus on the development of the following technical objectives:
- Developing novel multi-stage pilot plants based on DED processes, hybridising AM with previous and subsequent processes for the manufacturing of several certified metal parts
- Develop novel data-driven pipeline supporting design, simulation and production planning for Additive Manufacturing
- Implement a Quality-by-Design (QbD) manufacturing strategy, based on real-time control systems, inline quality control systems, and minimised consumption of raw materials
- Implement a digital end-to-end engineering concept
- Demonstrate Integradde approach in several pilot lines for the manufacturing of certified metal parts
A full list of project partners is available via the Intergradde website. The project is been funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
Source: Metal AM
