TU Delft has opened a new laboratory for additive manufacturing that covers the entire process chain from metal powder to the finished component. In the “Materials for Additive Manufacturing Lab” (MAM), researchers can now produce their own metallic and ceramic powders for the first time and process them into products for extreme environments.
As lead professor Vera Popovich explains, powder production has always been a “black box” until now. Now, materials scientists can develop raw materials with tailor-made compositions and defined properties, which opens up completely new possibilities in design and production.
In the MAM laboratory, this will be used to research high-temperature alloys, ultra-high temperature ceramics and composite materials for aerospace applications. According to Popovich, applications beyond these areas, such as chip production, are also conceivable. In the long term, her team would like to establish additive manufacturing as a productive high-tech manufacturing method. This should help to overcome social challenges in terms of the energy transition and sustainability.
The MAM lab is a collaboration between the Faculties of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at TU Delft. The interdisciplinary collaboration aims to drive innovation in materials and production technology.
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