The classical design and manufacturing paradigm in aerospace leads to a high buy-to-fly ratio because almost 90% of raw materials are turned into scrap, through subtractive machining from forged billet. This is the case even for costly, advanced engineering Ti-alloys where traditional manufacturing routes are employed. Scrapping most of the raw material through machining and other processing routines also results in increased lead times which falls behind the complex requirements of the current aerospace manufacturing landscape. The DISTOPIA project will address these problem - distorting aerospace manufacturing boundaries - by developing an automated, cost-efficient wire-fed DED additive manufacturing (AM) and repairing method, made possible using novel metallic wires with enhanced mechanical properties; combined with implementation of a full digital twin model of the process. Additive manufacturing (AM) provides an alternative perspective compared to the conventional methods, particularly regarding the utilisation of raw materials, complex design capabilities, decreased lead times and costs as a combined effect. Wire-fed DED, commonly referred to as WAAM, is one of the AM techniques which ensures a high rate of productivity by leveraging arc welding while also maintaining reasonable costs through the use of traditional equipment like industrial robots and welding sources. DISTOPIA focuses on a critical aspect for the future of WAAM, as current trend on AM is development of new materials that offer superior productivity and material properties compared to the ones developed and optimised for conventional manufacturing routes. This, combined with the use of advanced process monitoring and control systems will lead the way for the optimisation and adaptation of the technology for the aerospace industry. These will overcome critical barriers to entry for the WAAM DED approach, helping to make the approach more readily available and accepted. Cost will be significantly reduced in two main ways: 1. By requiring only wire material as needed for part mass 2. By eliminating the requirement for stock - typically over 2 million spare parts across multiple aircraft designs. These savings will increase the global competitiveness of the European aerospace industry and support sustainable development goals. With DISTOPIA this will be demonstrated for 3 aerospace manufacturing/repair examples, as well as considering applicability to other sectors (mining, energy, chemical processing).

Airframe fabricators use large machined titanium components but their manufacture methods makes inefficient use of material. Most (typically more than 80%) of the high value, pedigree material purchased to make a part is machined away into low-value swarf, that has to be scrapped, or recycled through energy intensive and environmentally costly processes. The industry uses the term buy‐to‐fly ratio (BtF) to quantify the mass of material purchased to make the part, compared with the mass of the finished component. For large components of ~25kg a BtF of 5:1 to 10:1 is typical, but for several wide-body structures BtF of \>20:1 are also seen. AM offers a manufacturing route that can be significantly more material efficient with BtF of 3:1, and typically <2:1 with an optimised process. Powder bed Additive Manufacturing is being used effectively for components of up to ~3kg mass, using powder feedstock, but is too slow and limited in dimension (maximum practical dimension is <1m) to be viable for larger components. For larger components, DED (directed energy deposition) is the AM method; whereby wire or powder feedstock is fed into a deposition head, which is manipulated to form the component layer-by-layer. This AM approach is able to address large (e.g. 25+kg) components reducing the metal consumption of the airframe business, and consequently lower costs and environmental impact. From a material stand-point, Ti6Al4V alloy is recognised as the "workhorse" of airframe fabricators, and represents almost half of the market share of titanium products used worldwide. However, Ti6Al4V suffers from inter-pass columnar grain growth when deposited using DED AM -- which severely reduces its mechanical performance. It is well established that small additions of grain growth modifiers can offer such a solution; the issue has been how to make a suitable, low-cost, feedstock material that can deliver this. Epoch Wires has a unique wire production approach, developed for superconducting wire manufacture, that offers a way to finely and reliably offer such a production method. Within the project, we will produce and evaluate a range of doped wires and establish their 'AM-ability" using a full range of DED AM methods (Arc/WAAM, Laser and Electron Beam DED) -- potentially offering the aerospace sector a key input into unlocking the full potential of AM for aircraft manufacture.

COVID-19 has caused significant disruption to many markets and has created a need for flexible and adaptable manufacturing methods that can offer significant economic advantages to cope with the disruption. Additive manufacturing (AM) is an obvious candidate that has already seen some industrial success especially in the aerospace, medical and power generation sectors due to its high process efficiency, low material wastage, and the ability to manufacture components or coatings with complex geometries and/or improved material properties. The compact wire-feed head developed by HMT for wire laser metal deposition (w-LMD), a form of AM, has the potential to supersede both traditional subtractive manufacturing methods as well as current state-of-the-art AM processes. The head is capable of depositing material between 0.5 -- 4+kg/hr and was developed from standard w-LMD side-feed technology. However, its unique design allows for a more stable process with effective-omnidirectional deposition. The head is also very adaptable due to its compact size, where its laser - blown powder variant is globally leading in its design for ease of integration into machine tools though automated tool change system. This project will develop and deploy an innovate approach for wire delivery in LMD to prove the commercial viability in a number of different industrial sectors. This will be achieved by applying the technology to a number of real-world industrial components to demonstrate added-value and market potential within the UK. The key outputs from _FastWireAM_ are: 1\.**Demonstration of added-value** provided by the w-LMD head, including reduced production time and material waste, accelerating **market uptake** in a number of diverse sectors and applications to provide additional revenue streams for the partners. 2\.**Improved hardware and process** through performance mapping and parameter optimisation, ensuring a robust and reliable manufacturing method and quality required by industry. The successful completion of this project will demonstrate and establish the commercial viability of this process. We expect that the technology will be offered as a manufacturing solution to both current and new customers and revenue streams, and retrofitted onto new and existing machine tools.

Europe's Flightpath 2050 vision and NASA's Fixed Wing Project aims to achieve a 75% reduction in CO2 emissions and 70% reduction in aircraft fuel-burn. The UK Aerospace Technology Institute has recently launched its equally ambitious targets to develop aircraft with efficient propulsion technologies. Future aircraft will redefine tomorrow's aviation landscape and will require disruptive technologies to achieve long term objectives, in terms of reduction in noise levels, fuel burn and emissions. Electric and hybrid-electric propulsion are foreseen to be the most promising technologies for addressing these challenges. It has been demonstrated that multiple motor-driven fans reduce drag and utilise boundary layer ingestion resulting in lower fuel burn and lower emissions. Since conventional electrical machines and transmission systems cannot meet the high-power density requirement, one approach proposed by Airbus, Rolls Royce and NASA is to develop superconducting electrical distributed propulsion systems. According to this proposed technology, the power can be distributed from superconducting generators to superconducting motors that drive multiple propulsive fans. Light-weight superconducting motors and generators with minimised cooling requirements are solutions to bridge the technology gap for future electric aircraft. The long-length and cost-effective Magnesium Diboride (MgB2) superconducting wires manufactured by Epoch Wires can enable lighter superconducting generators and motors designs for electric aircraft propulsion systems. Major advantages over other HTS materials include low AC loss and low manufacturing cost. This project studies the performance of MgB2 machines by bridging the gap between superconducting material manufacturing and HTS machine modelling. Fine-filament MgB2 cables coupled with small twist pitches will be manufactured by Epoch Wires for highly efficient superconducting machine applications. A new MgB2 machine model will be developed by the University of Strathclyde team based on the latest MgB2 wires' characteristics to quantify the benefits and predict the utmost limits of MgB2 HTS machines. This project will provide a full technology appreciation of the power density and efficiency of HTS machines based on state-of-the-art MgB2 manufacturing technologies. It will also provide a technology forecast for the performance of HTS machines up to 2050. The technical evaluation and forecast will provide essential information to show how MgB2 superconducting machines can fit into the roadmap of electric aircraft development.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique that is able to produce high-resolution images of the interior of the body. It is most commonly used to exam the brain, abdomen and the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems, where its ability to distinguish the structure of soft tissues assists in the diagnosis of conditions such as heart disease, cancer multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. Most MRI systems use superconducting magnets that require supercooling with liquid helium to operate. The price of helium has more than doubled in the last decade as demand has continued to grow. This has led to extremely high running costs for MRI systems. MRI manufacturers are seeking alternative superconducting materials that operate at temperatures above the boiling point of cryogenic liquids such as hydrogen and nitrogen, which are relatively inexpensive and readily available. The most promising alternative superconducting material is magnesium diboride (MgB2) because it is superconducting below 39 K; therefore it can operate with liquid hydrogen, which has a boiling point of 20 K. However, MRI machines require large quantities (5 - 20 km) of continuous superconducting wire and currently there is no commercially viable manufacturing process to produce MgB2 at a price and quantity to enter the market. Epoch Wires have a patent pending process to manufacture large quantities of continuous MgB2 wire. They need the to develop a prototype system that can demonstrate MgB2 wire production at an acceptable price point for the MRI manufacturers.