Aerospace Valley & Addim Alliance: federate and coordinate technical and human resources in the New Aquitaine and Occitanie regions
Addim Alliance was created under the leadership of Aerospace Valley and actors in academic research and technology, brought together by the desire to create a strong and unique value offering through their skills, their equipment and their research staff in the aim to promote metal Additive Manufacturing technologies.
Addim Alliance is made up of the following technical platforms and research centres: Futurprod (I2M – Arts et Metiers, Bordeaux Talence), Addim Adour (ESTIA), Institute Clément Ader (IMT Mines d’Albi and ISAE Sup Aero), CEF3D (ENI of Tarbes), PRO3D (University of Montpellier), and the IRT Saint-Exupéry.
Addim Alliance brings together and coordinates the technical and human resources of these 6 Aerospace Valley-related platforms in order to create a major French and European hub for research, industrial transfer and training in metal additive manufacturing. This alliance is backed by the New Aquitaine and Occitanie regions, and is at the service of equipment manufacturers (OEM), SMEs and ETIs.
Addim Alliance is active in the following areas:
→ The optimization of meta-materials based on its mechanical or multi-physical environment
→ The behavior and durability of materials obtained by additive manufacturing
→ Process simulation by integrating all manufacturing scales
→ Finishing operations of additive manufacturing parts
→ The development / optimization of process parameters and trajectory of additive manufacturing processes
→ The optimal design methods for AM
Addim Alliance focuses on the mastery and control of LPBF (Laser Powder Bed Fusion), DED-P (Powder Direct Energy Desposition) and WAAM (Wire Arc Manufacturing) processes by addressing R&D work through strong partnerships with major contractors and regional SMEs, developing control over industrial fabrication methods and the use of experimental platforms dedicated to fine instrumentation and to the understanding of physical processes occurring during the additive process.
Addim Alliance in figures
→ The number of publications on AM: 60
→ Volume of R&D committed to FA Metal over the past 5 years: 30M€
→ Number of PhDs in progress in 2021: 43 theses launched
→ The number of equipment:
• Manufacturing: 14
• Characterization/control: +100
• Number of people involved (including teacher-researchers): +125
Its role within the ecosystem
Pool actions, research programs and investments from the 6 regional players in the field of Metal Additive Manufacturing, in order to enhance their skills, their equipment and their research staff and, thus, better meet the expectations equipment manufacturers, SMEs, ETIs and R&D offices large groups.
Create regional dynamics and coordinate roadmaps aiming to:
→ Identify strategic areas of innovation with major contractors
→ Generate large-scale collaborative projects
→ Coordinate the acquisition of resources and avoid their redundancy within AddimAlliance
→ Disseminate, exchange very regularly on the results of doctoral theses from each of the platforms
→ Label additive manufacturing projects to develop business lines between ETIs, SMEs and decision-makers.
→ Propose broad-spectrum training actions (on-the-job training, university training, Grandes Ecoles engineering, apprenticeship training, tailor-made training for SMEs-ETIs, etc.)
Support SMEs and ETIs:
→ Propose a training solution offering
→ Raise awareness of mutual interests and difficulties
→ Offer support for investment decision-making
→ Respond and help alleviate technology bottlenecks
→ Participate in the emergence of a market by increasing the quantity of references designed
→ Integrate SMEs/SMIs into an R&D dynamic
