Thu, 09 September, 2021
TWI has teamed up with industrial giants to explore new additive manufacturing processes for the aerospace industry and other applications where high value, high integrity titanium structures are used.
Boeing, Austrian equipment manufacturers SBI GmbH and research association RHP Technology GmbH are working together with TWI on a new collaborative research project, ‘Novel Materials and Manufacturing for Direct Energy Deposition (NOMAD).’
NOMAD is investigating directed energy deposition with arc (DED-arc) - sometimes known as wire arc additive manufacture (WAAM) – with the aim to allow greater adoption of the technology in aviation and beyond.
The NOMAD project will work to improve the properties of ‘as deposited’ titanium alloys through a combination of novel and bespoke wire composition and advanced deposition approaches.
This will provide the platform to develop advanced on-line process monitoring capabilities to be integrated with cutting-edge manufacturing equipment.
If successful, the project will allow additive manufacturing to be considered in direct competition to the current cast, forged and machined from billet manufacturing methods.
In recognition of its potential, the project has won part funding from UK and Austrian government agencies as part of the EUREKA international collaborative R&D funding scheme.
The NOMAD project has received funding from Innovate UK under No 107473