Swedish research drivers develop sustainable additive manufacturing solutions

Swedish company Interspectral has announced two new research and development projects in the field of metal 3D printing. The projects, “Resilient and Resource Efficient Additive Manufacturing of large/complex added value parts” (RES2AM) and “Enhanced Software Control for Rapid Optimized World Class Metal Additive Manufacturing” (ESCROW), aim to make industrial manufacturing processes more efficient and sustainable. Together with partners from industry and science, AI-supported tools are being developed to set new standards in the field of additive manufacturing.

As part of RES2AM, the focus is on the production of large, complex metal components using powder bed fusion with laser (PBF-LB). Interspectral is working with partners such as the RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Chalmers University of Technology and GKN Aerospace Sweden AB. The project follows a two-stage approach: First, pilot solutions for design strategies, real-time monitoring and thermal process control will be developed and tested in industrial scenarios. In the second phase, a system demonstrator will be brought to industrial maturity, with a particular focus on applications in the aviation and energy industries. Interspectral’s contribution lies in the development of AI-supported analysis functions that enable improved process stability and resource efficiency.

The ESCROW project focuses on the optimization of metal production through AI-based real-time monitoring and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The aim is to precisely control the processing of high-performance alloys such as Alloy 718 and Ti-6-4 by integrating advanced models to increase production quality and speed and reduce material waste. Together with SIMTEC Soft Sweden AB and Chalmers University, Interspectral is working on predicting and adjusting key process parameters.

These initiatives underline Sweden’s role as a pioneer in additive manufacturing. Through close collaboration between research and industry, progress is to be made that will have a lasting impact on manufacturing technology in aviation, energy and beyond.