The SuPreAM research project, which aims to optimise manufacturing processes in the steel industrial sector, held its 1st General Assembly at the DRT Rapid facilities in Leiria, Portugal, last December.
Professors Josep Maria Carbonell and Fernando Rastellini, from the Structural Mechanics research group, and Dr. Joan Baiges, from the Fluid Mechanics research group at CIMNE, joined representatives from other European partners to review the work done in the first months of the project, started in July 2023.
Representatives of the SuPreAM team including Prof. Fernando Rastellini (far left), Josep Maria Carbonell (second right), and Joan Baiges (third right)
The SuPreAM project seeks to boost the implementation of Additive Manufacturing (AM) with optimal surface integrity. By developing and enhancing a predictive simulation model of finishing operation in steel AM, the initiative will reduce manufacturing costs and emissions in the European steel industrial sector.
For three and a half years, seven European partners, coordinated by the Technology Centre of Catalonia (Eurecat), will conduct a comprehensive research of the main causes that affect part quality of AM and Machine steel projects and develop predictive modes of finishing operations.
CIMNE’s Structural Mechanics group will provide its long-standing research expertise in finite element method and particle-based techniques to identify, evaluate, and model additively manufactured and machined component characteristics and processes.
During the first phase of the project, the consortium will study the influence of AM process, steel microstructure, chemical composition, heat treatment and mechanical properties of additively manufactured steel allows to improve the machining operations.
The second phase will see the development of machine strategies for additive manufacture steels with optimal surface integrity, while models of machining processes and component behaviour modelling will be created in the third phase.
For the fourth phase, the team is set to evaluate the machinability of the AM materials, tools, and processes, before validating the proposed solutions in the fifth phase, when partners will demonstrate suitability of AM production of two components, a plastic injection mould, and a structural component for aerospace application.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS), project num. 101112346.
