Global technology Group Oerlikon has entered into an additive manufacturing (AM) research alliance with Linde, an industrial gases company, and the Technical University of Munich (TUM), a German university in engineering. The partners aim to develop new high-strength, lightweight aluminum-based alloys that can serve the safety and weight reduction needs of the aerospace and automotive industries. The Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs is funding 50% of the EUR 1.7 million research project.
This research partnership was born out of the AM collaborative announced in early October. TUM, Oerlikon, GE Additive and Linde announced the establishment of a Bavarian AM cluster and an Additive Manufacturing Institute to promote higher levels of collaboration and cross-disciplinary research amongst the companies and the university. Having a wide variety of expertise in one geography is expected to accelerate advances in AM.
The Oerlikon - Linde - TUM consortium is unique as each of the three members brings its own high-tech expertise to the table in this complex space. Producing the optimum aluminum alloy with a high content of lightweight elements like magnesium through an AM process requires a deep understanding of chemistry, thermo and fluid dynamics. During the manufacturing process, the metal powder is applied one layer at a time on a build plate and melted using a laser beam. This fuses the metal powder together and forms the desired complex, 3D geometries. The process takes place in a well-defined shielding gas atmosphere.
Oerlikon's expertise in powder and material science will contribute to the development of the novel material. "Using our proprietary software, which enables big data simulation and analysis, Scoperta-RAD, Oerlikon provides critical solutions for the development of new materials and performance optimization of available materials," said Dr. Alper Evirgen, Metallurgist at Oerlikon AM.
"There are significant challenges during the AM of aluminum alloys because the temperatures reached in the melt pool create an extreme environment that leads to evaporation losses of alloying elements that have comparatively low boiling temperatures - such as magnesium," added Dr. Marcus Giglmaier, Project Manager, AM Institute and Research Funding Manager. "Additionally, the cooling rates of more than 1 million °C per second, create high stresses during the solidification process, which can cause micro cracks in the solid material."
Linde's pioneering technology and expertise in gas atmosphere control and evaporation suppression during the AM process - including the processing of aluminum-based alloys - overcomes impurities within the print chamber, helping manufacturers to achieve optimal printing conditions.
"Characterizing and controlling the gas process during AM not only has the potential to prevent evaporation losses, but also to accelerate the entire printing process," explained Thomas Ammann, Expert Additive Manufacturing at Linde. "Using a tailor-made gas chemistry for the new alloy would help to control the processes occurring in the melt pool and minimize the compositional changes of the alloys, as well as prevent cracking during printing."
For its part, the Institute of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics (AER) at TUM has a detailed understanding of the physical phenomena taking place during the AM process using numerical simulations. "The AM research alliance bridges the gap between our latest numerical modeling achievements and future industrial applications," said Prof. Nikolaus Adams, Director of the AER. At AER, a process simulation tool has been developed to cover the whole melt pool dynamics - from solid to liquid and gas with phase change models, surface-tension effects and thermal transport. "A detailed insight into the simultaneously occurring thermo- fluid dynamic phenomena is crucial in gaining a better understanding of the entire process and the final material characteristics," added Dr. Stefan Adami on the benefits of computational fluid dynamics.
Oerlikon AM is a business unit of the global technology and engineering powerhouse Oerlikon, which is headquartered in Switzerland.
Linde is an industrial gases and engineering company that employs approximately 80,000 people globally and serves customers in more than 100 countries worldwide.
For more information contact:
Oerlikon AM
www.oerlikon.com
Linde
www.linde.com
The Technical University of Munich (TUM)
www.tum.de/en/