Additive Manufacturing technologies are viewed as viable alternatives to conventional manufacturing processes, capable of creating geometrically efficient structures with low material waste. Commercial laser and electron beam metallic Additive Manufacturing systems are increasingly being used in high value aerospace and medical industries to directly manufacture metallic end-use parts. To manufacture components with full densities, these processes must completely melt the feedstock material, this subsequently generates large thermal stresses within formed components. Further to this, the hardware used within these high power laser/electron systems are inherently expensive and energy inefficient. This creates technical challenges and economic barriers that subsequently restrict new markets and industries from embracing this highly promising and disruptive manufacturing technology. This proposal will develop a novel low thermal stress inducing, low cost metallic Additive Manufacturing process, Layered Extrusion of engineering Metal Alloys (LEMA). A specially created metallic feedstock will be extruded using a developed system designed to create layered 3D structures. A combination of unique feedstock chemistry and careful process control will allow efficient deposition of materials with a reduction in thermal gradients compared to conventional laser/electron based Additive Manufacturing systems.

This research will develop a new way of rapidly making high-quality metal parts by Additive Manufacturing, often referred to as 3D printing. This work, if successful, will lead to faster, cheaper and more environmentally-friendly production of functional parts to be used in the UK's leading industries. It will help maintain the competitive advantage of manufacturing industries in the UK and result in enhanced industrial output and lead to improved exports. The UK academic community will gain by opening up new research opportunities to chemists, materials scientists and engineers in universities. The public will gain through the manufacture of new products and job-creation in key industrial sectors in the UK.

The development of implantable prosthetics has revolutionised medicine. Where joint injury or destruction would once have once significantly reduced quality of life, to the detriment of a patient's fitness and health, we can now almost fully restore function. The manufacturing methods used for the production of prosthetics are quite crude and often require the casting of metal into a mould before finishing by hand. As a consequence they are usually made to only a few different sizes and the resulting structures must be made to fit by the surgeon. This is acceptable for the majority of patients who require joint replacement, but there are some medical conditions that require very irregularly shaped (customised) structures to enable an adequate repair. For example, bone cancers often require extensive cutting away of the bone and this can leave a very large and irregular defect. Similarly the bone structure of the face and skull is very specific to an individual and when bone must be removed, again due to cancer or following physical damage. To restore physical appearance, it would be best if a clinician were able to generate a plate that could allow them to replace like for like. In this project, we will refine an Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) technology called selective laser meeting (SLM) to allow us to produce implants that are individual to a patient. These technologies use lasers to fuse powder and create a three dimensional object in a layer by layer fashion. By taking three dimensional images (MRI and CT) from a patient, operators can design structures that will be able to directly replace tissue with the optimum shaped implant. In this project, we will work with doctors from the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine to develop a process that we hope will eventually allow these clinicians to produce implants in their own hospitals or even on the front-line of a conflict and enable better treatment for their patients. As well as allowing the production of complex-shaped parts, ALM has another significant advantage over casting in that it allows the production of very complex porous structures within a material. This means that we can modify the physical properties of the material by incorporating holes or structured porosity into the structure. These holes can be sealed from the surface of the prosthesis, or can be linked to the surface using a network of even narrower holes. We would like to explore the use of this added manufacturing capability to make prosthetics with a very closely defined internal structure that is completely interconnected. A second, cement like, material can then be injected into the pore structure and will harden in place. This second phase can be used to modify mechanical properties or could be used as a carrier for drugs that may stop infection or help the tissue to heal. It is hoped that this modification could help us eliminate implant-based infections, which is the leading cause of failure following prosthetic implantation.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) often known by the term three-dimensional printing (3DP) has been acknowledged as a potential manufacturing revolution. AM has many advantages over conventional manufacturing techniques; AM techniques manufacture through the addition of material - rather than traditional machining or moulding methods. AM negates the need for tooling, enabling cost-effective low-volume production in high-wage economies and the design & production of geometries that cannot be made by other means. In addition, the removal of tooling and the potential to grow components and products layer-by-layer means that we can produce more from less in terms of more efficient use of raw materials and energy or by making multifunctional components and products. The proposed Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing has the vision of training the next generation of leaders, scientists and engineers in this diverse and multi-disciplinary field. As AM is so new current training programmes are not aligned with the potential for manufacturing and generally concentrate on the teaching of Rapid Prototyping principles, and whilst this can be useful background knowledge, the skills and requirements of using this concept for manufacturing are very different. This CDT will be training cohorts of students in all of the basic aspects of AM, from design and materials through to processes and the implementation of these systems for manufacturing high value goods and services. The CDT will also offer specialist training on aspects at the forefront of AM research, for example metallic, medical and multi-functional AM considerations. This means that the cohorts graduating from the CDT will have the background knowledge to proliferate throughout industry and the specialist knowledge to become leaders in their fields, broadening out the reach and appeal of AM as a manufacturing technology and embedding this disruptive technology in company thinking. In order to give the cohorts the best view of AM, these students will be taken on study tours in Europe and the USA, the two main research powerhouses of AM, to learn from their international colleagues and see businesses that use AM on a daily basis. One of the aims of the CDT in AM is to educate and attract students from complementary basic science, whether this be chemistry, physics or biology. This is because AM is a fast moving area. The benefits of having a CDT in AM and coupling with students who have a more fundamental science base are essential to ensure innovation & timeliness to maintain the UK's leading position. AM is a disruptive technology to a number of industrial sectors, yet the CDTs industrial supporters, who represent a breadth of industrial end-users, welcome this disruption as the potential business benefits are significant. Growing on this industry foresight, the CDT will work in key markets with our supporters to ensure that AM is positioned to provide a real and lasting contribution & impact to UK manufacturing and provide economic stability and growth. This contribution will provide societal benefits to UK citizens through the generation of wealth and employment from high value manufacturing activities in the UK.

Manufacture Using Advanced Powder Processes - MAPP Conventional materials shaping and processing are hugely wasteful and energy intensive. Even with well-structured materials circulation strategies in place to recondition and recycle process scrap, the energy use, CO2 emitted and financial costs associated are ever more prohibitive and unacceptable. We can no longer accept the traditional paradigm of manufacturing where excess energy use and high levels of recycling / down cycling of expensive and resource intensive materials are viewed as inevitable and the norm and must move to a situation where 100% of the starting material is incorporated into engineering products with high confidence in the final critical properties. MAPP's vision is to deliver on the promise of powder-based manufacturing processes to provide low energy, low cost, and low waste high value manufacturing route and products to secure UK manufacturing productivity and growth. MAPP will deliver on the promise of advanced powder processing technologies through creation of new, connected, intelligent, cyber-physical manufacturing environments to achieve 'right first time' product manufacture. Achieving our vision and realising the potential of these technologies will enable us to meet our societal goals of reducing energy consumption, materials use, and CO2 emissions, and our economic goals of increasing productivity, rebalancing the UK's economy, and driving economic growth and wealth creation. We have developed a clear strategy with a collaborative and interdisciplinary research and innovation programme that focuses our collective efforts to deliver new understanding, actions and outcomes across the following themes: 1) Particulate science and innovation. Powders will become active and designed rather than passive elements in their processing. Control of surface state, surface chemistry, structure, bulk chemistry, morphologies and size will result in particles designed for process efficiency / reliability and product performance. Surface control will enable us to protect particles out of process and activate them within. Understanding the influence between particle attributes and processing will widen the limited palette of materials for both current and future manufacturing platforms. 2) Integrated process monitoring, modelling and control technologies. New approaches to powder processing will allow us to handle the inherent variability of particulates and their stochastic behaviours. Insights from advanced in-situ characterisation will enable the development of new monitoring technologies that assure quality, and coupled to modelling approaches allow optimisation and control. Data streaming and processing for adaptive and predictive real-time control will be integral in future manufacturing platforms increasing productivity and confidence. 3) Sustainable and future manufacturing technologies. Our approach will deliver certainty and integrity with final products at net or near net shape with reduced scrap, lower energy use, and lower CO2 emissions. Recoupling the materials science with the manufacturing science will allow us to realise the potential of current technologies and develop new home-grown manufacturing processes, to secure the prosperity of UK industry. MAPP's focused and collaborative research agenda covers emerging powder based manufacturing technologies: spark plasma sintering (SPS), freeze casting, inkjet printing, layer-by-layer manufacture, hot isostatic pressing (HIP), and laser, electron beam, and indirect additive manufacturing (AM). MAPP covers a wide range of engineering materials where powder processing has the clear potential to drive disruptive growth - including advanced ceramics, polymers, metals, with our initial applications in aerospace and energy sectors - but where common problems must be addressed.