Sustainable product development via design optimisation and AdditiVe manufacturING (SAVING) is a collaborative R&D project to develop lightweight and sustainable products via material design optimization and additive manufacturing (AM).
This 3-year project will lead to significant reductions in materials and energy consumption in the production of high-value products. As an innovative and promising material process technology, AM allows the rapid manufacture of sustainable products through new lightweight material structure technology that utilises both metals and plastics more effectively. It has the potential to produce high-value aerospace, medical and engineering parts with minimum material waste and energy input.
SAVING will focus on three areas: material design optimisation, process optimisation, and the associated support structures required when fabricating parts using AM. Material design optimisation will study lightweight structures, while process optimisation will look into the way that the design is implemented within the AM process. This will address part orientation, layer thickness, surface finish and mechanical properties. In conjunction with the process optimisation, support design will be analysed and optimised to minimise energy and material usage.
Simpleware Ltd, Delcam plc, 3T RPD Ltd, Crucible Industrial Design Ltd, EOS Electro Optical Systems Limited, Plunkett Associates Ltd, University of Exeter
SAVING is funded by the Technology Strategy Board under the "Sustainable Products and Materials" collaborative R&D funding competition.