A revolutionary Lithography-based Metal Manufacturing (LMM) machine for 3D printing of high-quality functional metal parts

Project Information

LMM

Grant agreement ID: 877973

DOI

10.3030/877973

Project closed

EC signature date 25 July 2019

Start date 1 August 2019

End date 30 November 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

LITHOZ GMBH
Austria

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LMM (A revolutionary Lithography-based Metal Manufacturing (LMM) machine for 3D printing of high-quality functional metal parts)

Reporting period: 2019-08-01 to 2019-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Currently, metal manufacturers relies mostly on conventional Metal Injection Molding (MIM) technology. Despite the hype around the AM, the most-common AM technologies for metals such as Powder-Bed Fusion are riddled with a number of issues such as high set-up costs, lengthy manual post-processing and unpredictable defects in final parts and products. This has significantly limited the development and adoption of the AM within the metal manufacturing market. Additionally, both traditional MIM and current AM technologies suffers from low quality of the final produced metal parts with limitations in terms of design and customization, incurring high production costs and material wastage. Therefore, the metal manufacturing industry needs a process technology that, smoothly integrated within the existing MIM production line, can increase the production capacity with the possibility of enhancing quality and versatility of metal parts.
LMM is an innovative, automated Lithography-based Metal Manufacturing machine for 3D-printing of advanced, high quality metal parts with low risk of any defects.
The overall objectives of the project include, defining a minimum viable product, establish a feasible product development plan and industrialisation strategy, plan testing, demonstration and validation trials and analyse risks and opportunities.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Undertook a full analysis of both the technical and business potential of the LMM concluding that it would be highly valuable for the metal manufacturing industry specifically for Metal Injection Moulding (MIM) manufacturers producing metal parts for dental, medical, automotive, aerospace and other applications typically in need of a low-to-medium production volume providers. The development of LMM is reviewed and analysed the user requirements and determined the necessary engineering and optimisation required. The testing to be performed is defined to ensure effective technical validation for CE Marking, and a commercial validation to determine the benefits for metal manufacturers, specifically the MIM manufacturers. The feasibility study is also utilised to review and establish the value chain including all suppliers; to analyse the target markets and define the commercialisation strategy; and to elaborate financial projections and required investments. It is concluded that in order to reach commercialisation, the company should aim to upgrade the LMM machine to a multi-coating model, upgrade the LMM machine process for Titanium, Tugnsten and Hard metal and redesign control and management software, to scale-up production by installing an assembly line, validate the technology with 5 industrial partners including technical testing of metal parts and validation of LMM process and finally apply for CE certification.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The expected outcome of the project is to successfully upgrade the LMM hardware and associated control and management software, customise to multiple metals and demonstrate the technical functionality and accuracy in printing various types of metal parts. The commercial validation with help metal manufacturers to produce highly accurate and precise metal parts of any design with any metal material at low cost. LMM will foster adoption of AM printing into the MIM industry thanks to the easy implementation into existing manufacturing lines, and to the unparalleled quality of the finished products. It is one of the most sprouting technologies in Europe and is expected to generate revenues for over €200 B in the next 10 years, spanning the automotive, manufacturing, aviation and medical industries. Its impact on the efficiency, sustainability and competitiveness pushes the boundaries of parts’ design, making easier the production of different parts at no extra cost, minimizing manufacturing footprint and reducing inventory costs. AM has the potential to redraft the future of current industries: requiring minimal tooling operations and based on the creation of finished parts directly from a digital CAD file, AM will shorten time-to-market and open a myriad of possibilities for on-demand production. Directly LMM commercialisation will create 50 high skilled jobs in Europe.

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