University of Wolverhampton
Pure copper 3D printed heat sink
The University of Wolverhampton, EOS and AMCM have partnered up to launch a new UK Centre of Excellence for Additive Manufacturing (AM).
Partially funded by the UK's Regional Innovation Fund (RIF) and based in the Elite Centre for Manufacturing Skills (ECMS) at the University of Wolverhampton’s Springfield Campus, the centre will be used for industrial 3D printing knowledge exchange and research commercialisation activities, with a particular focus on copper AM.
Professor Arun Arjunan, director of the ECMS and Centre for Engineering Innovation and Research at the University of Wolverhampton, said: “The establishment of the UK Centre of Excellence for copper AM marks a significant milestone in additive manufacturing, setting the stage for a new era of innovation, sustainability, and responsible manufacturing. Future projects will investigate the integration of laser process data and machine learning, and artificial intelligence technologies for efficient material and laser process development.”
The partnership will provide access to technology from EOS and AMCM, including the AMCM 290 FLX, a customised EOS M 290 machine equipped with nLIGHT beam shaping laser technology, high temperature processing capabilities and excellent oxygen control. The centre will specialise in the development of advanced materials and processes led by The University of Wolverhampton’s Additive Manufacturing Research Group and its spin off company Additive Analytics. The work will focus on applications where copper printing is most in demand such as space, automotive, aerospace, electronics, and quantum computing,
Nathan Rawlings, Sales Manager at EOS UK, said: “The UK manufacturing sector has always pushed forward and embraced innovation. Additive Manufacturing with materials such as copper offers huge benefits for product designers, but they can be demanding for manufacturers to work with. This new Centre of Excellence will create and test the processes that enable material benefits to be reliably and consistently realised in real-world manufacturing component manufacturing.”
