Oerlikon has entered into an additive manufacturing research alliance with Linde and the Technical University of Munich to develop new high-strength, lightweight aluminium-based alloys.
The €1.7m research project, half funded by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, hopes the newly developed alloys will be able to serve the safety and weight reduction needs of the aerospace and automotive industries.
Producing the optimum aluminium alloy with a high content of lightweight elements like magnesium through an additive manufacturing 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, three-dimensional geometries. The process takes place in a well-defined shielding gas atmosphere.
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