Increasing 3D printing speed by 25% in the Additive Manufacturing industry
INTEGRADDE is a European project, involving 26 partners from 11 countries and having a budget close to 17 million euros.
The initiative (supported by FundingBox from an acceleration perspective) pursues one of the fundamental objectives of the European Commission to further progress in the Industry 4.0 era: deploy 3D printing in European manufacturing industries.
The Challenge
As of today, the metal components manufacturing industry has not adopted 3D printing (also called additive manufacturing) for two main reasons:
- The huge costs.
- The unpredictable defects in products and metal parts inherent to the additive manufacturing process.
Taking the leap to incorporate this technology in the industry, is the fundamental objective that the INTEGRADDE project intends to achieve through the development and implementation of a global control system. The latter will allow to connect the entire manufacturing process, from design to production in a standardised way. The result will be a new, faster and zero defects manufacturing model.
The project will focus on 3D printing of metal parts of medium and large sizes, designed for the aeronautical, metal-mechanical, automotive and civil construction industries. The stakes are huge: in the aircraft industry, up to 90% of the materials end up being wasted. With additive manufacturing, waste will be reduced to practically zero.
Project Innovations
To achieve the INTEGRADDE objectives, the members of the consortium will develop a strategy of continuous and integral control of the additive manufacturing processes, from the product design stage to its final verification.
In addition, they will:
- Analyse new design and process planning technologies, to help ensure that there are no manufacturing defects.
- Look for solutions that can be adapted to existing industrial equipment, but will also look for new manufacturing cells.
- Seek to combine different technologies (welding, machining, etc.) in order to achieve hybrid manufacturing processes.
- Apply data analytics and artificial intelligence, to support the design and manufacturing processes.
- Advise on the creation of new procedures for standardisation and certification of manufactured parts.
Thanks to 3D printing, it is estimated that the reliability of manufacturing processes will increase by 40% and the production speed will increase by 25%. Therefore, manufacturing industries will be able to deal with a greater demand for manufactured goods.
Applications for the end user
The progress made will be tested by manufacturing firms that joined the INTEGRADDE initiative:
- GKN Aerospace, to produce components of commercial aircraft engines;
- ArcelorMittal, in the manufacture of large parts for the steel manufacturing process;
- MX3D (a company that has created the first metal bridge manufactured by additive manufacturing) for civil construction solutions;
- Or firms such as Loiretech or Corda, to manufacture moulds and tools for the production of parts for the aeronautical and automotive sectors, respectively.
Besides, the members of this consortium will create a network to support companies who are contemplating incorporating additive manufacturing technology in their industrial processes. The network will help them evaluate the benefits and costs of 3D printing under real manufacturing conditions.
The INTEGRADDE Consortium
INTEGRADDE has a budget of around 17 million euros and is co-financed by the European Commission, through the Horizon 2020 program. The consortium, led by AIMEN, is made up of 26 partners from 11 countries: Germany, France, Slovenia, Spain, Greece, Italy, United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal.
The entities that make up the consortium are: AIMEN Technological Center (Spain), LimitState (United Kingdom), University of Sheffield (United Kingdom), ESI Software Germany GmbH (Germany), ATOS (Spain), Commission of Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy of France — CEA (France), Institut de Reserche Technologique Jules Verne (France), MX3D (Netherlands), Loiretech (France), Fundingbox Accelerator (Poland), Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine — University of London (United Kingdom), Bureau Veritas (France), IREPA Laser (France), Högskolan Väst (Sweden), New Infrared Technologies — NIT (Spain), GKN Aerospace (Sweden), Deutsches Institut für Normung — DIN (Germany), Arcelor-Mittal Innovation, Research and Investment (Spain), University of Coimbra (Portugal), Datapixel (Spain), Corda (Slovenia), DGH Robotics (Spain), Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems & Automation — LMS (Greece), Brunel University London (United Kingdom), Prima Industrie (Italy) and ESI Group (Germany).
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, under grant agreement № 820776.
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