Circular hybrid manufacturing involving metal binder jetting process

About the Project

This PhD project will ignite an exciting new research area for the sustainable production, consumption and recycling of metallic materials for use in Metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes, in particular binder jetting process.

With the proposed research route, the energy footprint of producing metal powders will be dramatically reduced. Chips will be collected after machining and converted to powders for binder jetting. The resulting AM parts will be then analysed for surface integrity, mechanical, thermal and tribological properties. The impact of the research will underpin cost effective waste management of metallic chips and their recycling for the use in powder form when producing high value AM components.

The School of Engineering at Cardiff University has recently acquired a research and development focussed metal binder jetting machine which is the 1st of its kind in the UK. Metal binder jetting has profound opportunities for producing intricate mesoscale parts for aerospace, automotive, biomedical, marine and aesthetic sectors. The student will have the opportunity to work along the world-class research groups in Cardiff and to interact with other eminent UK universities and industry.

The student will be working within the High-Value Manufacturing Group’s two major research labs - Additive Manufacturing and Micro and Nano-manufacturing. The student will receive training in the following experimental techniques:

• Powder bed fusion process.
• Metal binder jetting process.
• Surface and mechanical integrity analysis.

Throughout the project, the scientific communication skills of the student will be developed through presentation at conferences and preparing scientific articles for publication.