A form of surface engineering, laser functional texturing is a key enabling technology that is relevant to almost every industrial sector, with applications ranging from anti-icing/self-cleaning surfaces to wear reduction and biocompatibility enhancement. It can offer significant benefits to manufacturers, such as cost savings, improved product performance and faster product development. However, the process is viewed by many as complex and costly, and there can be a lot of trial and error involved in getting the desired surface texture.
The SHARK project has addressed these challenges by industrialising laser functional texturing through a holistic approach, to boost the productivity, cost effectiveness and flexibility of the process, and ultimately build confidence in the process as a viable option for enhancing product performance, quality and reliability.
A group of 11 research organisations and market leading companies from across Europe teamed up to increase the industrial uptake of laser functional texturing and unlock the benefits of the technology for European manufacturers.
Supported by funding through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for research and innovation, the project consortium has developed a fully integrated system that reduces production time with a ‘right first time’ approach through modelling of the process and in-situ inspection. The platform allows end-users to test run the functionality obtained through laser surface texturing on their components, which significantly reduces risk and cost.
The amount of component testing has been reduced through the establishment of a knowledge data management system and modelling software, and provides a cost model analysis for implementing laser surface texturing in specific application areas.
Laser texturing has a wide range of applications in sectors as diverse as aerospace, medical, food and drink, power generation and tooling. The SHARK project is focused on such end-use applications including anti-icing for ice cream production lines and controlled friction for high-friction discs resulting in significant benefits to the functionality of the chosen case-study components.
The consortium consisted of world class research organisations: Fraunhofer IWS (Germany), Heriot-Watt University (UK) and the Manufacturing Technology Centre (UK). Companies bringing their technology expertise were: ATS (UK), GF Machining Solutions (Switzerland), Sensofar (Spain), SIMTEC (France). End users provided application case studies in the power generation, medical, tooling and food and drink sectors, namely MAN Diesel & Turbo (Denmark), Johnson & Johnson (Ireland), Sandvik Coromant (Sweden) and Unilever (UK).
