2023-06-28 09:30:05
Specialized in the additive manufacturing of metal parts, the ADDIMADOUR platform, located in Bayonne, allows manufacturers to develop their projects and their skills in 3D printing, as well as in robotics, composites and processes. This multidisciplinary activity allows a more efficient industrial integration of additive manufacturing, for large groups as well as for SMEs.
ADDIMADOUR is a platform dedicated to large-scale metal additive manufacturing created in 2017, using both wire and powder technologies. The Addimadour platform is one of the services of ESTIA – theHigher School of Advanced Industrial Technologies -, It is hosted within the platform COMPOSITADOURwhich includes advanced processes such as composites, robotics and additive manufacturing.
Located in the Basque Country, ADDIMADOUR allows companies to be supported in their metal additive manufacturing projects, whether in terms of technical, technological or training support.
Pierre Michaud, Doctor in materials science and head of the additive manufacturing division of ADDIMADOUR, explained to Engineering Techniques the operation of the ADDIMADOUR platform dedicated to additive manufacturing
Engineering Techniques: What are the objectives of ADDIMADOUR, the ESTIA platform dedicated to additive manufacturing?
The role of the Addimadour platform is to transfer technology, develop knowledge or launch research programs, both French and European. ESTIA students and professionals in need of training also take advantage of the platform to develop their knowledge and skills.
We cooperate with the local industrial ecosystem, which was very oriented towards the aeronautics sector during the genesis of Addimadour. Today, our activities have diversified into the transport, energy and tooling sectors, even if our core business remains aeronautics.
What attracts manufacturers today to the implementation of additive manufacturing processes?
The different sectors are gradually moving towards additive manufacturing, in particular because the technology is now more mature.
Also, the cost of manufacturing a part in small or medium series – raw material storage cost, logistics cost – and above all the response times that 3D printing can bring allow many companies to gain in competitiveness. And also SMEs to invest in these printing technologies: Indeed, 3D printing technologies such as WAAM for example, which we use, are now becoming affordable, in terms of material investment.
What are the problems encountered today by manufacturers wishing to increase their skills in additive manufacturing?
The big effort will be at the crossroads of professions, that is to say the need to master the different technologies associated with additive manufacturing. It is in this sense that we are developing specific training to train engineers with very different backgrounds in robotic manufacturing, for example. Previously, there were engineers specialized either in materials, robotics, processes… Today, it is necessary for engineers who use 3D printing technologies to also develop peripheral skills in welding, robotics, programming… without necessarily become a specialist in all these fields.
This is a real need today, for companies that would like to embark on additive manufacturing. This increase in skills, particularly on the “materials, robotics and processes” triptych, is something that we see among the industrial entities with which we collaborate. Having multi-skilled engineers in the specialties we have just mentioned allows companies to integrate additive manufacturing processes much more efficiently into an already existing environment.
Is additive manufacturing for the repair of industrial products something that is developing more and more?
We are indeed seeing many companies, particularly in the energy and automotive sectors, turning to additive manufacturing to produce spare parts, or parts that are no longer mass-produced by the manufacturer.
This repair aspect is something that we see more and more, in particular because of the growing concerns of companies with regard to their carbon footprint.
ADDIMADOUR is attached to COMPOSITADOUR, a platform specializing in particular in composite materials. How do these improve the performance of parts produced by additive manufacturing?
The advantage of composite materials over thermoplastics is that their mechanical properties are superior.
These composite materials are now composed of thermoplastics associated with short fibers, most of the time in carbon or glass fibers.
The current problem is to develop long fibers implemented in the raw material. This poses implementation problems, in particular at the level of fibre/matrix cohesion. Afterwards, it is a very important area of development, since the 3D printing of long fibers will make it possible to reinforce a part to be printed according to its geometry, and thus to produce parts with greater mechanical properties.
Interview by Pierre Thouverez
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