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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LASIMM (Large Additive Subtractive Integrated Modular Machine)

Teaser

Summary

Adoption of Additive Manufacturing to get a boost from all-in-one machines enabling direct production from CAD

LASIMM project is driving the development of novel hybrid approaches for additive and subtractive manufacturing machines, enabling production in a short time and without the need of post-processing steps.

Reducing costs, improving efficiency and production flexibility are core pillars to improve Europeâ€™s industrial competitiveness. The LASIMM project (Large Additive Subtractive Integrated Modular Machine) aims to address this need through the development of large scale and flexible all-in-one hybrid machines, based on a modular architecture that is easily scalable, and ensuring that the properties of the material produced surpass those of a forged material. It will enable the production of a part/product directly from computer-aided design (CAD) models within a reduced timeframe and without the need of post-processing steps. The machine resulting from this project will be equipped with both subtractive and additive manufacturing technologies, as well as featuring additional capabilities for machining, cold-work, metrology and inspection that will provide the optimum solution for the hybrid manufacturing of large engineering parts, with cost benefits of more than 50% compared to conventional machining processes.

Specifications will create new opportunities and applications for Additive Manufacturing
In order to produce large scale engineering structures, material needs to be deposited at a relatively high rate, with exceptional properties and excellent integrity. To achieve such result, the deposition process will be based on Wire + Arc Additive Manufacture (WAAM). Another unique feature of the machine will be the capability for parallel manufacturing, featuring either multiple deposition heads or concurrent addition and subtraction processes.

This parallel manufacturing process requires that the machine architecture is based on robotics. To ensure that the surface finish and accuracy needed for an engineering components is obtained, a parallel kinematic motion (PKM) robot is employed for the subtractive step. This robot is also used for application of cold work by rolling between passes. This ensures that material properties can be better than those of a forged material. A key part of this project is the development of the ICT infrastructure and toolboxes needed to programme and run the machine. The implementation of parallel manufacturing is extremely challenging from a software perspective and will require a strong focus within the project.

Project partners
There are ten partners engaged on this ambitious project, comprising six companies, including the entire supply chain needed to produce such a machine, two Universities and two research institutes. Project partners include the European Federation for Welding, Joining and Cutting (EWF), BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd., Foster + Partners Limited, Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Cranfield University, Global Robots Ltd., Loxin2002, S.L., Helmholtz-Zentrum, Geesthacht Zentrum fur Material â€“ und Kustenforschung GMBH, Autodesk. and Instituto Superior TÃ©cnico.

LASIMM has received funding from the European Unionâ€™s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. H2020-FoF-2016-723600-LASIMM.

For more information, please visit: www.lasimm.eu

Work performed

The project began with the definition of the End-User Requirements & Demonstrator Parts, for each application area (aerospace, construction and energy). The LASIMM end users specified target demonstrator components, namely representative Fuselage Frames (BAE Systems), a Cantilever Truss (Fosters + Partners) and a wind turbine Main Frame (Vestas), along with performance targets for those parts.

In paralell, the system developers identified the physical and software system requirements. Included are the hardware requirements for Wire and Arc Additive Manufacture (WAAM); articulated robot arm manipulators for WAAM and head/ tailstock rotational mounts; specification of the Parallel Kinematics Machine (PKM) used for machining, and supporting systems. Also accompanying this are the software requirements for driving the hardware.

Within the other technical Work Packages, a number of other activities were also accomplished sucessfully. Some examples are given next:
â€¢ Development of the additive process (WAAM) with the focus on how to apply AM to the large-scale multi-robot machines;
â€¢ Application of metrology devices to the WAAM process;
â€¢ Development of a software solution for the AM process across multiple deposition robots;
â€¢ Design and fabrication of the LASIMM workcell;
â€¢ Dissemination of the project via different channels in order to reach a wide audience including general public as well as industrial and scientific professionals.

Final results

LASIMM has managed to progress beyond the actual state of the art, across several aspects. The WAAM process has been further developed to account for the need to integrate it in an hybrid machine, as well as to allow for the fabrication of large parts. The subtractive aspects of the project have been also developed, in particular regarding the machinability requirements of the material deposited by the WAAM process. Moreover, the software solution being created in the project is also a novelty in terms of the approach to the integration of additive and subtractive manufacturing. A number of other aspects (metrology, cold work, multi-material deposition, on-line inspection, etc.) have also benefited from the work done in the first period of the project.

It is expected that LASIMM and its results can positively impact not only the organisations involved in the project, but also their networks. From this, comes also the fact that the project partners have already identified a number of results being created within the project, and that they are willing to exploit.

More information will be provided once the Large Additive Subtractive Integrated Modular Machine is operating: feel free to follow LASIMM\'s news in the project website.