GF and Inspire

The current alloys in use are not an optimal choice for the print process of additive manufacturing regarding their sustainability, performance and related pricing.

To drive sustainability forward, it is necessary to promote additive manufacturing, as this production method is more resource-efficient than comparable manufacturing techniques - it requires less material due to the lower scrap rate.

Therefore, the A³-4AM project consortium is developing a new high-strength aluminum alloy for additive manufacturing. This project is a Swiss collaboration between the GF Casting Solutions Technology team in Schaffhausen, the GF AMotion Center in Stabio and a Research team from Inspire, the leading national competence center for technology transfer to the mechanical, electrical and metal (MEM) industries.

The A³-4AM project started in March 2021 and is scheduled for completion end of 2023. Special feature of the developed alloy is high strength despite the absence of precious or rare earth metals. Thus, sourcing is not critical and sustainability is promoted. The alloy will be priced similarly to current alloys in use while still meeting the high requirements of the aerospace industry, which are to be extremely light and yet stable over a wider temperature range. The new alloy will ultimately find application as structural parts in aircrafts. 

An aluminum alloy for additive manufacturing can be described as the ink of the industrial 3D printer. However, in this case, it’s not a liquid, but a powder. To print a metal component, a laser selectively melts this powder and forms the desired shape, layer by layer.

The high strength of the additive manufacturing alloy is of advantage in comparison to other manufacturing methods, as less material is needed to achieve equivalent component performance.

“This way it’s possible to create highly complex shapes that are both lightweight and extremely stable,” says Sebastian Wierschke, Technical Expert Additive Manufacturing at GF Casting Solutions, who oversees the project.

At its AMotion Center in Stabio, GF works with the latest additive manufacturing technologies and machines from GF Machining Solutions to create highly complex components.

Sebastian and the colleagues in Stabio regularly discuss its progress and the next development loops with Inspire. For now, the research looks promising. Regardless of the final result, Sebastian is already benefitting from the collaboration: “I’m gaining a lot of new insights from the partnership that I can apply to other areas of my work.”

Sebastian explains that trust plays a major role in this project because the GF team shares sensitive information with Inspire. “Without mutual trust, this close collaboration would be impossible,” he says. The shared data are valuable. In addition to details of material selection and processing procedures, it also includes the essence of years of customer feedback. Inspire has been in contact with GF for years for other research projects and provides it’s over 17 years of experience in metal additive manufacturing. “Thanks to this good and ongoing cooperation, both sides took a leap of faith,” says Sebastian.

Contracts lay down the rules of the cooperation. They also determine what happens if the research is successful and a new alloy developed: GF is entitled to sign a patent while Inspire is remunerated.