Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DurAMat (Sustainable production, processing and modelling of durable additive manufactured materials for enhanced performance and long-term service in complex environments.)
Período documentado: 2023-10-01 hasta 2025-09-30
In the context of Europe’s urgent push toward sustainability, industrial innovation, and digital transformation, the DurAMat project emerges as a game-changer in materials science. It addresses a persistent and critical bottleneck: the slow adoption of sustainable materials in high-impact sectors such as energy, transport, and medicine. By targeting severe exposure environments—conditions where traditional materials often fail—DurAMat aims to accelerate the uptake of additively manufactured (AM) metal components that are durable, efficient, and circular by design.
DurAMat’s central objective is to develop sustainable AM-based solutions across diverse metal alloy families, enabling not only the creation of new products but also the repair and functionalisation of existing ones. Through pioneering work in AM coatings, energy-efficient manufacturing processes, and circular repair strategies, the project anticipates significant impacts: a 30% reduction in energy consumption during manufacturing, a 60% drop in product failures with corresponding gains in safety and environmental performance, and a 20% overall cost advantage compared to conventional approaches.
The project combines experimental science with advanced computational modelling and machine learning to bridge knowledge gaps and enable breakthrough innovations. At its core, DurAMat is also a training network, supporting 11 doctoral candidates through an interdisciplinary programme that blends academic research with industrial exposure. The training design aligns with EU strategic frameworks such as the 2030 Vision for European Universities, the Principles for Innovative Doctoral Training, and the Salzburg II recommendations—ensuring that graduates emerge as skilled, versatile researchers ready to lead Europe’s transition to sustainable manufacturing.
With a strong consortium of six universities, two research centres, and six industry partners across six European countries, DurAMat is set to deliver both technological and educational impacts at scale—catalysing Europe's leadership in sustainable materials and fostering the next generation of innovation-driven researchers.
DurAMat’s central objective is to develop sustainable AM-based solutions across diverse metal alloy families, enabling not only the creation of new products but also the repair and functionalisation of existing ones. Through pioneering work in AM coatings, energy-efficient manufacturing processes, and circular repair strategies, the project anticipates significant impacts: a 30% reduction in energy consumption during manufacturing, a 60% drop in product failures with corresponding gains in safety and environmental performance, and a 20% overall cost advantage compared to conventional approaches.
The project combines experimental science with advanced computational modelling and machine learning to bridge knowledge gaps and enable breakthrough innovations. At its core, DurAMat is also a training network, supporting 11 doctoral candidates through an interdisciplinary programme that blends academic research with industrial exposure. The training design aligns with EU strategic frameworks such as the 2030 Vision for European Universities, the Principles for Innovative Doctoral Training, and the Salzburg II recommendations—ensuring that graduates emerge as skilled, versatile researchers ready to lead Europe’s transition to sustainable manufacturing.
With a strong consortium of six universities, two research centres, and six industry partners across six European countries, DurAMat is set to deliver both technological and educational impacts at scale—catalysing Europe's leadership in sustainable materials and fostering the next generation of innovation-driven researchers.
The DurAMat project advanced significantly on the scientific front, achieving substantial progress across additive manufacturing (AM), corrosion science, mechanical performance, and process–structure–property modelling. In WP1, the consortium produced and characterized WAAM-repaired aluminium, carbon steel, stainless steel, and nickel-based alloys, establishing correlations between microstructural defects (e.g. porosity, inclusions, residual stresses) and corrosion behaviour, while mechanical testing of multi-material WAAM walls demonstrated promising strength and ductility, supported by the development of a thermodynamically informed modelling framework and customized multi-wire deposition hardware enabling functionally graded materials. In WP2, AM-fabricated duplex stainless steels was produced and evaluated, revealing distinct polarization, hydrogen uptake, and SCC responses linked to microstructure; complementary studies established early process–structure–property relationships for WAAM-processed Mg alloys, including newly developed methodologies to quantify localized corrosion using profilometry and image analysis. Parallel work on AM metallic coatings successfully optimized certain coatings on 316L and Corrax substrates, with preliminary electrochemical testing indicating localized elemental depletion as a key degradation mechanism. Collectively, these activities delivered the first integrated dataset on AM metals and coatings produced within DurAMat, validated laboratory and industrial-scale test protocols, and generated foundational understanding of degradation mechanisms and mechanical integrity that will underpin the next phase of model development, optimization, and exploitation.
The scientific results generated in DurAMat provide a solid foundation for advancing durable additive manufactured metals toward real industrial adoption. The project delivered preliminary but robust insights into the corrosion, mechanical and microstructural performance of WAAM- and L-DED-processed steels, aluminium, nickel alloys and magnesium systems, establishing clear links between process parameters, microstructural features and long-term degradation mechanisms. New methodologies—such as quantitative localized-corrosion analysis for Mg alloys, multi-wire WAAM hardware enabling functionally graded materials, and validated test protocols for SCC, hydrogen embrittlement and corrosion-fatigue—represent important technical outcomes that strengthen the knowledge base needed for reliable AM deployment in demanding environments. These findings have the potential to significantly impact sectors such as marine, energy, transport and repair by improving durability, reducing material waste and enabling novel repair strategies. To ensure further uptake and long-term success, continued research is needed on the optimisation of AM parameters for reproducibility, multiscale modelling integration, and long-term exposure testing under real service conditions. Future demonstration activities with industrial partners, strengthened access to high-value test facilities, and early IPR support will be essential to translate these results into commercial solutions. Broader market uptake will additionally benefit from clearer standardisation frameworks for AM repair processes, performance qualification of AM coatings, and harmonised durability metrics that facilitate certification and regulatory acceptance at EU and international levels.