A new consortium has been formed to advance the productivity of wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), with members including leading academics, scale-ups and engineering firms for Europe and the UK.
WAMM is a form of 3D printing that takes metal wire—which could be stainless steel, a titanium alloy or basically any other metal that can be welded—and uses it to construct metal parts through arc welding.
The new LAMM project has been awarded funding of €428,000 from EIT Manufacturing, which aims to make Europe a global hub for manufacturing, helping it to make substantial progress in the printing efficiency and deposition rates of WAMM processes. The project aims to achieve double the efficiency of current processes.
The consortium’s spokesperson said that the project was a chance to follow up years of internal research and development with a push to get technical readiness to an industrial level, adding:
“The critical funding provided by EITM reflects the credibility of the project’s ambition and the timely need for the improvements sought. 3D printing has already proven numerous benefits over traditional processes in terms of speed, design, sustainability and cost, but at 15 kg/h we can explore even wider horizons.”
While the ability to 3D print metal parts will no doubt offer considerable benefits, traditional manufacturing methods will continue to dominate for now. At TrAchem, we offer a range of products for the metals sector, from Fuchs Ecocut to Quaker Houghton Dromus, so get in touch with our helpful team to learn more.
