Despite the great promise and expectations, current additive manufacturing technologies still struggle to offer the flexibility needed for desired control over the chemical composition, inner arrangement, and outer shape of multi-material structures. To address this gap, the ArcHIDep project leverages the unique opportunities provided by a versatile solid-state powder deposition technique known as cold spray deposition. This technique offers a high deposition rate and the ability to mix materials with different chemical, microstructural, or mechanical properties.
ArcHIDep aims to establish a design framework that combines analytical, experimental, and numerical approaches to enable the implementation of customized multiscale heterogeneity at both compositional, microstructural, and geometrical levels. This framework will exploit the synergy between heterogeneity indexes designed at multiple length scales, tailoring the continuum-level behavior of the integrated structure. Enabling customized heterogeneity can offer an exceptional solution for complex structures in demanding fields where multiple competing or site-specific requirements often exist for a single component.