- Project title: Powder Sheet Additive Manufacturing
- Project acronym: PoSAddive
- Start date: January 1st, 2023
- Duration: 36 months
- Funded by EIT Raw Materials
The precise AM using loose powder raw materials typically produces a high amount of waste material that, at least in part, can be reused for less than 10 times after sieving. Thereby, high value powder material is lost. A main issue in the conventional powder AM processes is the unbound powder material either applied on a powder bed (Laser Powder Bed Fusion, PBF-LB/M) or blown through a nozzle (Laser Directed Energy Deposition, DED-LB/M) onto the processing zone. In both processes, powder is intrinsically blown away from the processing zone, particles accumulate and disturb the process and are thereby lost for building the part. This makes the process unstable, unpredictable and unsafe for humans that are exposed to micro-particles that can enter through skin and into the lung. In order to reduce the material need for AM and thereby increase the industrial acceptance, PoSAddive suggests a novel human-safe, material- and energy-efficient laser process by using powder sheets as raw material feedstock to overcome the drawbacks of conventional AM methods. PoSAddive aims to upscale the Additive Manufacturing (AM) process of metal materials using a novel powder application method for efficient, loss-less use of raw materials. In this new technology we are going to replace the disadvantages of the powder bed with the revolutionary idea of a powder sheet.
Gemmate Technologies contributes to demonstrate the technologies at TRL 7 conceiving lightweight components for e-mobility applications. The demonstrator will be re-designed by using innovative concepts for hybrid manufacturing synergically developed with other projects (see AVFF concept in SAMOA and Flexcrasch).
Scientific publication
Material incorporation in powder sheet additive manufacturing toward lightweight designs for future mobility, J. Laser Appl. 36, 022026 (2024); doi: 10.2351/7.0001348