Conventional material removal machining in mould making is wasteful of material. Moulds machined from solid stock cut away >90% of the original material, thus >€1.1B is wasted annually in Europe. Selective Laser Melting (SLM), has been demonstrated to be more effective in injection mould making. However, SLM still represents 250 kg. The powder, once used, can only be re-used 5 times, thus >50% is thrown away. In a case study, 30Kg of powder was added to an SLM machine and the following results were obtained: -1.6 Kg used for the part - 1.4 Kg complete waste – powder sucked by filters - 27 Kg powder removed – 90% of the initial amount With the current powder, a single part may take >24 hours to complete, increasing the total cost of ownership of the moulds. Another concern is the inefficiencies in the laser systems of the current 3D printing machines. POWDER seeks to revolutionise 3D printing through development & certification of an atomised metal powder. We will use advanced Materials Science and specialised binding materials that will speed binding, reducing development time. To improve the wear resistance of the moulds, we will use a specialised ceramic coating with high hardness and low friction characteristics. To optimise the laser system, we will lower the cross-section parameters of the gain fibre by using a high saturation glass matrix. POWDER eliminates all barriers shielding clients from enjoying the benefits of SLM and provides the following benefits: » Reduce mould building time by >400% » Reduce moulding cycle time by 55% » Reduce TCO of the moulds by 30% » Enhanced re-usability factor >50% POWDER will play a vital role in RB’s growth, generating a cumulative turnover of €16.8M by 2025.

The aim of DREAM is to significantly improve the performances of laser Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) of titanium, aluminium and steel components in terms of speed, costs, material use and reliability, also using a LCA/LCC approach, whilst producing work pieces with controlled and significantly increased fatigue life, as well with higher strength-to-weight ratios. DREAM targets the development of a competitive supply chain to increase the productivity of laser-based AM and to bring it a significant step further towards larger scale industrial manufacturing. In order to upscale the results and to reach an industrial relevant level of productivity, the project is focused on the following four main challenges (i) Part modeling and topology optimization (ii) Raw material optimization to avoid powder contamination (iii) Process optimization, including innovations of the control software of the AM machine, to enable high throughput production (iv) Setup of laser-PBF of nanostructured Titanium alloys with unchanged granulometric dimension for an additional push to higher productivity, since nanostructured metal powders can be sintered with lower energy input and faster speed. The project, thanks to the three end-users involved, is focused on components for prosthetic, automotive and moulding applications to optimize the procedure for three different materials, respectively titanium, aluminium and steel.