Additive Manufacturing Innovation Centre (AMIC)

AMIC provides a test bed for industry to develop new products and parts. From developing rapid prototypes to producing production-ready parts, the research team helps organizations explore additive manufacturing before making a significant investment in existing and emerging technologies. AMIC also provides guidance to industry partners looking to manufacture parts and products and want to be matched with a suitable production facility.

As additive manufacturing can also allow for new and better ways of producing parts and products,  AMIC can also reverse engineer existing parts in order to explore new materials and more efficient design options, helping companies save money and produce higher quality parts.

As an emerging technology, there is still a limited number of materials that can be used in additive manufacturing systems. AMIC can support the testing and validation of new materials and assess their suitability for use in a specific product or part. The lab also supports new alloy development, parameter evaluation and materials characterization.

AMIC can help industry partners understand the advantages and disadvantages of additive manufacturing for their entire organization or for specific product items, as well as help companies currently using the technology improve their workflow within their manufacturing process.

On request, AMIC can also design and host customized training and information sharing for companies looking to adopt additive manufacturing within their organization, augment the skills of their staff or explore new aspects of the technology.

The Manufacturing and 3D Printing Lab supports applied research projects in design optimization, product development and process optimization. The lab contains nine additive manufacturing units, representing six different additive manufacturing technologies.

Among the available equipment in the lab are two metal additive manufacturing systems. The EOSINT M 280 is a laser-based system for the direct production of metal parts and tooling, with a build volume of 250 x 250 x 325 mm. The Desktop Metal Studio System+ (DMSS+) is one of the newest metal systems on the market: it prints parts faster, offers more design flexibility, requires significantly less post-processing time, and can be used with a wider range of metals and materials than most metal systems. It has a build volume of 300 x 200 x 200 cm.

To support prototyping and production of parts in plastic, the lab has a EOSINT P 395, a plastic laser-sintering system for the direct manufacture of end products, spare parts, functional prototypes and master patterns, with a build volume of 340 x 340 x 620 mm. For faster prototyping to support product development, the lab also has several fused deposition modelling (FDM) systems, including the 3D Platforms WorkSeries 200, a large format FDM system with a build volume of 1 x 1 x 0.5m.

The Materials Development and Characterization Lab supports applied research projects focused on the development of new materials for additive manufacturing and the validation of process parameters and mechanical properties for parts produced for a wide range of materials. Using industry-leading technology, such as the JEOL JSM-IT100 InTouchScope Scanning Electron Microscope, the research team works with industry partners to explore metallographic characterization and alloy characteristics and support the development of new alloy combinations, including in situ alloying.

AMIC has access to the facilities at the Marshal School of Skilled Trades, as well as access to the expertise and labs available at the Energy and Power Innovation Centre (EPIC), the Medical Technologies Innovation Centre (MTIC), the Cybersecurity Lab, the Sensor Systems and Internet of Things (IoT) Lab, and the Centre for Climate Change Management.