A new German research project is working to overcome the long-standing difficulty of 3D printing high-strength aluminum alloys for aerospace applications. The AlaAF initiative, supported with €1.17 million from the Federal Ministry of Education, Technology and Space (BMFTR) under the Action Plan for Research into the Universe and Matter (ErUM), brings together the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), and Colibrium Additive. The partners aim to make aluminum components that are both lightweight and mechanically resilient using additive manufacturing methods.
AlaAF focuses on laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), a process in which a laser fuses layers of metal powder to form detailed parts. While LPBF is widely used, it cannot reliably process high-strength aluminum alloys required for load-bearing aerospace structures, as they are prone to cracking when cooled. To address this, the project introduces chemical additives into the powder. During printing, these additives form ceramic particles in the submicrometer range, refining the alloy’s crystal growth. This fine-grained, uniform microstructure reduces cracking and enables the industrial use of alloys previously considered unsuitable for additive manufacturing.
TUM researchers are employing neutron-based methods at the FRM II reactor to investigate the alloys. “Neutrons have a high penetration depth and are therefore ideal for analysing large, additively manufactured components for industry – a task that would be impossible with other techniques,” said project manager Dr. Ralph Gilles, who also serves as consortium spokesperson. Neutron diffraction allows precise measurement of internal stresses and phase distributions, while neutron radiography and tomography reveal pores and cracks deep within samples without destructive testing. Combining these approaches with mechanical loading and temperature variation provides data on how the alloys behave under operating conditions.
Colibrium Additive, a provider of industrial 3D printing technology, is contributing LPBF systems and process development. FAU researchers are analyzing the printed alloys with microscopic techniques to evaluate mechanical properties. At FRM II, experiments are being carried out in Garching and at the reactor in Rez near Prague. Scientists involved include Seda Ulusoy, Massimo Fritton, Simon Sebold, Steffen Neumeier of FAU, Ralph Gilles, Stefan Engel, and Gergely Farkas. Their combined work covers process optimization, material testing, and advanced neutron analysis.
University research pushes frontiers in 3D printing
A collaboration between Reverb Industrial and Arizona State University introduced Resonance-Assisted Deposition (RAD), a process that joins aluminum wire using high-frequency oscillatory strain instead of melting. Experiments printed aluminum 6061 components at power levels of 100 to 300 watts, compared with the 10 to 20 kilowatts typical for laser powder bed fusion, which consumes 300–500 megajoules per kilogram of alloy. Microscopy showed that defect densities at aluminum–nickel interfaces promoted diffusion zones 80 to 140 nanometers wide, a scale that would normally require temperatures above 320 °C. Thermal measurements during deposition recorded increases of only 5 to 10 °C, confirming that bonding came from oscillatory strain rather than heating. Resulting parts reached densities of 99.95 percent of the feedstock material, with tensile testing showing ultimate strength at about 75 percent of the annealed wire.
At Imperial College London, researchers working with ToffeeX developed a multiscale modelling framework for 3D printed heat sinks. The method reduced memory requirements by up to 90 percent and computation time by 70 percent compared with single-scale simulations, while maintaining errors below 10 percent in fluid momentum and heat transport. Validation included domains containing as many as 1,600 unit cells, solved in just over 90 minutes using 127 processors. Optimization runs with Bayesian algorithms improved heat transfer by 75 percent under uniform heat flux and by 558 percent under localized conditions representative of processor hotspots.
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Featured photo shows FRM II scientists carry out sample measurements with neutrons at the research reactor in Rez near Prague. Photo via Technical University of Munich.
