Understanding and quantifying uncertainties (UQ) in aviation structures is vital to assessing risk and safety. UPBEAT will create novel UQ methods and tools to support the production of safer and more innovative aircraft structures and engines while reducing uncertainties in product and engineering lifecycles. The project focuses on metal-composite hybrid aerospace engine parts that are lighter, more durable and cheaper. Innovative design solutions for hybrid interfaces can be achieved using metal additive manufacturing (AM) bonded with carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP). Advanced models of materials and processes will be developed using sophisticated in-situ and ex-situ monitoring and metrology. In aviation engines, the outlet guide vane (OGV) is an essential component that helps de-swirl the flow field from the fan. The OGV's stiffness is crucial as it influences the engine's performance and includes a major load path from its core to the wing. The OGV with two types of CFRP vanes and titanium end fittings will be used as a demonstrator. By combining AM with advanced in-situ melt pool monitoring and characterization (micro-CT & nanoindentation), digital models will be used to optimize design and manufacturing processes and increase awareness on efficiency, safety and risk. This will result in 20-40% weight reduction and 50-70% fewer defects. Streamlined product development reduces qualification time by 30-40% and costs by 25-35%. In-line quality assurance support lowers manufacturing costs by 30-50% and time by 20-30%. UPBEAT will: ✔ Increase understanding of the process, structure, property, & performance with safety focus ✔ Advance process models (AM, CFRP) for planning & optimization ✔ Develop verification and validation using multi-scale models ✔ Integrate UQ in design, materials, manufacturing, qualification, & certification ✔ Demonstration of UPBEAT technologies using a complex aviation use case

Flexcrash aims to develop a flexible and hybrid manufacturing technology based on applying surface patterns by additive manufacturing onto preformed parts. Aluminium alloys have been selected as the optimum material to build high performance structures, addressing both lightweight and environmental sustainability. They provide better recyclability, affordability (low CRM content), and costs than other material alternatives that would need complex developments for joining, recycling, and manufacturing. The property tailoring capacity offered by hybrid manufacturing will permit to develop a new type of crash-tolerant structures with outstanding performance under a wide range of impact angles and unexpected crash conditions. Structures will be defined according to the collision parameters identified by the different mixed traffic scenarios. Such tailored structures are the ideal solutions for dynamic active safety devices that allows displacement of crash structures to optimally face an imminent crash. Considering that the frontal crash is the most common (70%), a front-end structure has been chosen as demonstrator to validate the manufacturing developments, the modelling approach and the testing methodologies. The flexibility of the proposed technology will facilitate its transferability to other safety-related structures in vehicle’s locations with higher risk for passenger’s injuries while decreasing the number of materials and processes used to manufacture a crash structure. Simplify supply chain will turn into 20% manufacturing costs saving and reduce the risk of disruption. Virtual testing with improved reliability, validated by crash tests, will be used to propose new testing configurations, looking at the next step towards standardization. The application of Flexcrash solutions to the whole BiW offers a lightweighting potential up to 20% with improved safety (toward 50% reduction of passenger’s injuries and fatalities).

The ALABAMA project aims to develop and mature adaptive laser technologies for AM. The objective is to lower decrease the porosity and to tailor the microstructure of the deposited material by shaping the laser beam, both temporally and spatially, during the AM process. The key innovations in the project are to develop multiscale physics-based models to enable optimization of the AM process. These process parameters will be tested and matured for multi-beam control, laser beam shaping optics and high-speed scanning. To ensure the quality of the process, advanced online process monitoring and closed loop control will be performed using multi spectral imaging and thermography to control the melt pool behavior coupled with wire-current and high-speed imaging to control the process. To verify that the built material fulfills the requirements, advanced characterization will be conducted on coupons and on use-cases. The matured technology will be tested on three use-cases; aviation, maritime and automotive. These three industrial sectors span a broad part of the manufacturing volumes: from low numbers with high added value, to high numbers with relatively low cost. However, all these sectors struggle with distortions, stresses and material quality. The ALABAMA use-case demonstrators will improve the compensation for distortions during the AM process, reduce the build failures due to residual stresses, reduce porosity and improve tailoring of the microstructure. Overall, this will contribute to up to 100% increase in process productivity, 50% less defects, 33% cost reduction due to increased productivity and energy savings, a reduction of 15% in greenhouse gases and enable first time-right manufacturing thanks to simulation, process monitoring and adaptive control. The end users will insert the technologies while the sub-technologies developed in the work packages will be commercialized. This will increase the autonomy for a resilient European industry.

The GEAR-UP proposal, is a comprehensive initiative to revolutionize the manufacturing sector through sustainable practices and advanced technologies. The project's central objective is to develop digital tools and methodologies that address recycled materials variability. It covers stainless steel, aluminum alloys, and fiber-reinforced plastics for additive manufacturing (AM). It employs simulation-driven approaches for optimizing various AM processes, including laser beam-directed energy deposition, metal laser beam powder bed fusion, and fiber-reinforced polymer material extrusion. GEAR-UP also emphasizes environmental conservation by using recycled materials in engineering design, significantly reducing virgin resources, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions. The project intends to overcome challenges associated with secondary materials, such as performance variability, through resilient design and life-cycle environmental impact assessment. Moreover, the proposal outlines ambitious objectives for enhancing sustainable product design using innovative simulation and modeling software. It also implements the Digital Product Passport initiative and fosters human involvement in advancing circularity and sustainable technology adoption. This is done through training and global collaborative networks. GEAR-UP's approach represents a paradigm shift in engineering design, focusing on the circular value chain and developing universally adaptable AM technologies resilient to material variability. This endeavor is expected to directly impact the high-performance consumer products, green energy, & high-tech robotics markets. The key outcomes are: Cost savings: 25 % Increased productivity: 20-50 % Extended fatigue life: 50-80 % Defects reduced: 50-80 % Material waste reduced: 25-30 % CO2 emissions reduced: 25-50 % Reduced quality failures: 70-90 % Reduced design time: 20-50 % Reduced component weight: 25-30%

Scrap-based production of Steel using Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) with possibility of 100 % scrap charges, offers a Circular Economy-based solution to reduce CO2 emissions when compared to the integrated Blast Furnace (BF) + Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) route (1.81 tCO2/tsteel for BOF vs 0.23tCO2/tsteel for EAF). However, EAF production of sheet steel is currently not a reality due to the effect of undesired residual elements in the scrap. The aim of CiSMA is to introduce scrap-based EAF steel products into mass-market sheet metal consumer goods with high-quality requirements, currently served with BOF steel (96 % of the market). First, by generating fundamental knowledge on how residual elements, and Copper in particular, interact with sheet Steel and its performance. This will be done combining state-of-the-art methodologies with specialized resources, such as Synchrotron, to design Steel grades and determine safe residual thresholds. Next, scrap as a raw material will be studied together with methodologies to improve its quality and maximize the use of low-quality scrap, through the use of techniques that separate undesired inclusions from the main stream of steel. Finally, by generating a toolbox of enabling technologies to introduce recycled sheet metal in the industry: 1) fast characterization tests for quality control, 2) online test methodologies that can be applied in the press floor, and 3) the development of Machine Learning-enhanced Finite Element Modelling and Digital Twin that allow adapting production processes to feedstock with high variability. These developments will be showcased in applying four steel compositions into two pilot trials for mass-market applications: automotive and white goods. These trials will ensure that the material and production route developed can be readily accepted by the market, demonstrate the developed toolset of enabling technologies, and quantify the environmental improvements achieved compare to the current product.