This project will establish ΔT (DeltaT), a Sheffield-based software business providing smart build files to increase the ability, efficiency and reliability of the Additive Manufacturing (AM) process. This process works by adding layer upon layer of material on top of one another, in desired patterns, to create a desired 3D shape. There are often many machine parameters that need to be optimised in order to get the machine to output the desired shape within acceptable tolerances. This often requires lots of trial and error to get right, and needs to be tweaked for each different geometry to be printed. This approach is very costly and wasteful. Our approach blends physics based and data driven simulations to predict the correct machine parameters that should be used for each new geometry to be printed.
Over the past few years global events, such as the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine, have seen supply chains threatened. This has forced businesses to rethink their procurement models, distrusting international trade and bringing more and more manufacturing in house. As a result people have turned to AM, hoping that it will be a one stop shop to fix all their supply chain issues, enabling them to manufacture any part by "just clicking print". Instead they have been met with long process parameter development times, high failure rates and uneven mechanical properties. Our solution allows customers to rapidly develop parameters for new geometries getting right parts first time with uniform mechanical properties, for industries from automotive to aerospace.