EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

In the Horizon 2020 project MULTI-FUN, the manufacturing of fully integrated multi-functionalities of metal parts is the main focus. These functionalities include integrated electrical conductivity, embedded fibre-optical sensing or enhanced active/passive heat management. Several additive layer manufacturing technologies are under development to generate both the internal functional layers (lines/areas/volumes) as well as the final outer geometry of structural parts or manufacturing tools.
In this paper, the additive layer manufacturing of a gas-tight media carrying component will be discussed. The bulk part of the near-series design will be prototyped by wire+arc AM technology handled by up to 8 axes (6-axes-robot + 2-axes-turn/tilt table) in an hybrid approach, utilizing conventionally machined sections as well. The applied Aluminium alloy 6063 wire is new to additive manufacturing, offering medium structural strength combined with high thermal conductivity. The latter is important for requirements with respect to high temperature control dynamics.
Beyond this main function, embedded thermal sensors as well as integrated electrical conductors enabling novel thermal management concepts are part of the investigations. The isolating and conduction layers are generated by atmospheric plasma powder deposition.
The presented results will contain hardness, strength, porosity and tightness of the main body as well as the manufacturing experience from multi-material setup of sensors and conductors. The industrial application in automotive testing equipment will be described. Furthermore, the applicability in other demonstrators in MULTI-FUN will be addressed.