Many scientific and technical challenges are still present in metal and ceramic additive manufacturing. In order to better understand and control the energy source-material interactions and physical mechanisms at play down to the finest scales, allowing the control and fine-tuning of the new properties of alloys thus shaped, research teams from thirteen CNRS laboratories, its partners and a department of Onera have joined forces for a period of five years, in order to create a new Grouping of Scientific Interest (GIS) and overcome these issues.
GIS HEAD, created in September 2021, is tackling topics with key industrial applications, which will be broken down in each of the GIS working groups. Its primary objective is to improve the performance of Additive Manufacturing but also suggest innovative new methods, by identifying and prioritizing developments and breakthroughs, all while accounting for industrial competitiveness issues.
The ambition of the Scientific Interest Group “High Energy in Additive Manufacturing” (GIS HEAD) is to participate in the transformation and lead the acceleration of the industrialization of these new technologies. From the development of simulation for designing the initial digital objects to microstructure control and defects in the parts produced (surface defects, porosities, lack of fusions, grain size, texture, etc.) and of powder properties, wire or filaments, GIS HEAD aims to improve the performance of Additive Manufacturing across its entire supply chain value. Is it positioned to tackle the most fundamental issues and challenges, always with an aim towards increasing maturity and industrial exploitation while remaining consistent with regional and national partners’ needs.
The launch of the GIS HEAD is accompanied by the creation of an industrial network whose members have privileged access to technical meetings and regular appraisals as well as priority access to intellectual property generated by GIS. The industrialization of metal Additive Manufacturing remains slow due to many scientific barriers that can hamper R&D, which is a challenge that research actors in France have accepted.
GIS federates the following laboratories around a common objective:
→ The Materials Center (CNRS/Mines Paristech)
→ The Materials Forming Center (CNRS/Mines Paristech)
→ The Applied Mathematics Center (CNRS/Ecole polytechnique)
→ The Civil and Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CNRS/University of Nantes/Ecole Centrale de Nantes)
→ The Institute of Mechanics and Engineering of Bordeaux (CNRS/University of Bordeaux/Arts et Metiers professions and technologies/Bordeaux INP)
→ The Georges Friedel Laboratory (CNRS/Mines Saint-Etienne)
→ The Solid Mechanics Laboratory (CNRS/Ecole polytechnique)
→ The Gas and Plasma Physics Laboratory (CNRS/Paris-Saclay University)
→ The University Laboratory for Automated Production Research (ENS Paris-Saclay/Paris-Saclay University)
→ The Processes and Engineering in Mechanics and Materials Laboratory (CNRS/Cnam/Arts et métiers sciences and technologies)
→ The Science and Engineering, Materials, Processes laboratory (CNRS/Grenoble Alpes University/Grenoble INP)
→ The Engineering and Science Materials Laboratory (CNRS/Insa Lyon/Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University)
→ Onera’s Materials and Structure Department
A program divided into 6 working groups
Materials:
Towards new materials (e.g., high ceramic resistors and high-performance aluminum alloys)
Energy:
Better yields for a more optimized use of energy
Numerical tools:
Optimization of manufacturing strategies and hybridization of processes (e.g., combining additive and machining)
In-situ:
Real-time process control through in-situ monitoring instrumentation (e.g., real-time temperature measurements for detecting manufacturing defects)
Microstructures:
Control of solidification and post-processing (microstructure control enabling optimization of properties)
Simulation:
Multi-physics and multi-scale modeling: towards a digital twin and optimal structures (e.g., lattice structures).
Its role within the ecosystem
Most of these teams are integrated within major regional initiatives (AFH, AddimAlliance, Initiative3D), in numerous collaborative contracts with manufacturers or in national or European research programs. They also allow many experimental and digital platforms to develop cutting-edge research in the areas of interest of GIS HEAD.
CNRS, advancing knowledge
The National Center for Scientific Research is one of the most recognized and renowned public research institutions in the world. For more than 80 years, it has maintained its excellence in terms of its recruitment and development of multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary research throughout the country, in Europe and internationally. Focused on social welfare, it contributes to the scientific, economic, social and cultural progress of France. The CNRS is above all 32 000 women and men working in 200 professions. Its 1000 laboratories, mostly shared with universities, schools and other research organizations, advance knowledge by exploring living things, matter, the Universe and the functioning of human societies. The close link it weaves between its research activities and their transfer into society has made it a key player in innovation today. Partnership with companies is the basis of its policy of technology valuation. It is present notably through nearly 170 joint structures with industrial players and through the creation of a hundred start-ups each year, a testimony to the economic impact of its research work. CNRS make research work and data accessible; this sharing of knowledge has multiple audiences: scientific communities, media, decision-makers, economic players and the general public.
Closer to industry: regional applied research platforms and regional networks.
The number of platforms dedicated to metal additive manufacturing has continued to grow in recent years. Present everywhere on the territory, they are key components to the development of local ecosystems. They are provided with in-depth expertise on one or more specific technologies according to local needs. This allows them to support SMEs and industrials in their metal additive manufacturing projects, thus ensuring the dissemination and technology transfer.
