The following key achievements illustrating the progress beyond state of the art need to be mentioned:
(1) Software with novel ways of interacting with the computer-aided designs of the geometries to be printed and with new aspects linked to the preparation of additive manufacturing processes by photopolymerization has been developed.
(2) Processes for controlling not just the inner structure of additive manufactured parts, but also the surface properties of computer-aided designs have been developed, validated and compared with state-of-the-art software for texturing designs.
(3) In WP3, improved debinding and sintering protocols for post-processing of printed alumina parts enabled the the realization of relative densities of 99.7 % without using any sorts of sintering aids. This constitutes a significant improvement compared to the previously feasible 99.4 % for lithographic AM as well as other AM approaches in general (relative densities <99 %).
For silicon nitride-based materials the results of ToMax constitute the first report of AM-produced parts with equivalent material properties to conventionally fabricated counterparts.
(4) The light engine developed in WP4 has a very high optical output power (> 8W, more than 600 W/m² irradiance in the image plane) due to the laser array illumination system and careful design matching of all components, which is significantly higher than comparable systems on the market, thus reducing the cycle time of the 3D-printing process.
(5) In WP5, a high throughput L-AMT system, designed from scratch, with high- feature-resolution and large building volume (144x90x100 mm³) has been developed. The upscaling of such a system, with respect to previous construction from the TUW, was achieved. This screening was important for obtaining a TLR6-state within ToMax.
(6) The highlight beyond the state of the art is a combination of two exposure units, which separately are intended for L-AMT; a DLP Light Engine (LE) (projecting bitmaps for layer generation) and a laser-scanner system (exposing vector-based structures for layer generation) where constructed and tested separately. A simultaneous acceleration of the exposure step and good surface qualities should be achieved by combining both systems.
(7) Applications in energy engineering, which benefit from the use of complex geometries and structures for improved heat dissipation, heat transfer, promotion of turbulence and integration of structural and thermal functionalities, have been conceived, designed, implemented and tested for validation purposes.
(8) Applications in chemical and biomedical engineering, in which the use of ad hoc defined porous or lattice structures and microtextured surfaces may improve the reactions involved or lead to biomimetic and biomechanical performances have been successfully investigated.
(9) A complete study regarding the impact of different support geometries on the environmental impacts and cost has been performed. The study shows that the use of improved supports developed during ToMax, depending on part geometry, lead to support material savings with values typically ranging from a 40% to almost an 80%. Related cost reductions typically reach values from 10% to 40%.
