Four lines of research
Printing with wire
ALMAZIUM® was designed for laser powder bed fusion. STITCHING adapts it to wire-based DED-arc and DED-laser, so larger structures can be built while preserving the alloy's healing ability. Key challenges are the loss of volatile alloying elements, defect control and the formation of the healing phase under different thermal cycles.
WP1
Welding
AM parts usually have to be joined to wrought structures, and PBF-LB aluminium tends to develop large pores when TIG welded. STITCHING uses the thermal stability of ALMAZIUM® to weld it to itself and to conventional wrought aluminium, targeting the ECSS-Q-ST-39C requirements for space hardware.
WP2
Watching healing happen
Micro- to macro-scale characterisation is combined with tensile testing inside a scanning electron microscope and a new heating stage for laboratory X-ray tomography, reaching 550 °C at about 1 µm resolution. Until now, such in-situ healing studies required a synchrotron.
WP3, WP4, WP5
Environmental and economic assessment
A life cycle assessment and life cycle costing compare powder and wire routes, with and without healing, from raw materials to end of life, to identify the most sustainable and cost-efficient way to produce parts.
WP6
