The University of Birmingham is set to install a Great additive Metal additive manufacturing (AM) system in the Advanced Materials & Processing Laboratory (AMPLab) of the School of Metallurgy and Materials.
The Print Genius 150 Double Wavelength is a laser powder bed fusion system with a unique dual laser configuration, a 300W infrared laser and a 200W green laser, which can work alternately on the same 150 x 160mm cylindrical build area. The University of Birmingham plans to use the system to research novel materials, including functionally graded materials, copper, noble materials and refractory metals.
Professor Moataz Attallah, Director of AMPLab, said: “The Print Genius 150 Double Wavelength is an exciting addition to AMPLab’s research facilities. The planned research activities will connect the research and innovation landscape and promote collaboration with innovative manufacturing companies in the UK and beyond through commercial work. The system is unique in its ability to deliver both infrared and green lasers, which will enable the exploration of a significant amount of fundamental research, in addition to novel applications.”
The machine’s red and green lasers can process a range of materials including steel, aluminum, nickel, titanium and cobalt-chrome alloys, as well as more demanding highly reflective materials such as pure copper or precious materials. According to Prima Additive, the machine’s special beam configuration with a beam size of 30 µm can also process precious metals such as gold with high accuracy.
Paolo Calefati, CEO of Prima Additive, added: “We are pleased to be a supplier and partner to a prestigious institution like the University of Birmingham: for us, collaboration with universities has always been crucial as it allows us to make important further developments to advance our products.” . Universities are often the starting point for companies choosing additive manufacturing. For this reason, the Birmingham region is of particular strategic importance thanks to the presence of many leading companies and we are pleased that one of our machines can be available for university research and to support innovative companies in the region.”
The machine was acquired with the help of a Strategic Equipment Grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and will serve as a national facility for academic and industrial users across the UK.
In December, the university also received almost 1.5 million GPB from the UK Atomic Energy Agency (UKAEA) to research fusion energy technology as part of the FATHOM2 (FAbrication of Tungsten using HOt isostatic pressing and Additive Manufacturing) project, which focuses on: : Scaling 3D printing and powder HIPping technologies to produce complex, cooled tungsten components for plasma-related components in nuclear fusion reactors.
