3D printing or additive manufacture (AM) of metals has the potential to revolutionise someareas of industry such as aerospace and energy. This particularly applies if it can be used for theproduction of large parts at low cost and with high quality for critical engineering applications.It has been demonstrated on a laboratory scale that 3D printing based on conventional weldingmethods using an electric arc and wire feed to deposit weld beads in a layer wise fashion hasthe potential for this. However there are currently no commercial systems available to enablethis to be exploited on an industrial scale. The objective of the RoboWAAM project is to developa 3D metal printing system based on large scale flexible robotics and welding technology.The developed system will be adaptable so that other process such as inspection can beincorporated during the printing of the part. This will ensure that the printed parts have therequired high quality. The system will be suitable for subsequent commercialisation. Adoptionof the system by industrial users will lead to significant cost savings in a range of industrialsectors including aerospace, construction and energy.The project is a collaboration between KUKA, Airbus Defence and Space, FMCTechnologies, Cranfield University and the University of Strathclyde (including theAdvanced Forming Research Centre, which is one of the High Value Manufacturing Catapults).

TWI is taking the lead in the Open Architecture Additive Manufacturing (OAAM) project to demonstrate the ability to manufacture large metallic components via Additive Manufacturing (AM) for the benefit of UK Aerospace. The OAAM programme plans to develop directed energy deposition (DED) AM technologies that can be scaled up to accept multi-metre component sizes. TWI will work with project partners Airbus, Autodesk, Cranfield University, Glenalmond Group, University of Bath, University of Manchester and University of Strathclyde to create three DED AM process platforms. These new platforms will enable aerospace manufacturers and their supply chains to develop advanced AM manufacturing concepts in the following fields: 1. Arc-wire / Laser-wire AM @ Cranfield University. 2. Electron Beam wire AM @ TWI (Cambridge). 3. Laser-powder / Laser-wire AM @ TWI (Yorkshire Technology Centre). Each of these systems will offer unique AM capabilities and address a number of common needs: • Scalable architecture solutions, with common CAD/CAM control interfacing. • Integrated process steps (NDT, Machining, Inspection, Cold-work etc.) as necessary for optimum implementation to aerospace requirements. • Ability to manufacture aerospace components using AM to TRL 6 or MCRL 4/5. These new AM systems will be truly state-of-the-art research facilities for their respective AM process variants, and will be made available to UK industry, leveraging key expertise resident within the hosting research organisations. They will establish a fully quantifiable process that will place UK suppliers at the forefront of the technology and AM research. This will offer the UK aerospace sector access to next-generation manufacturing with a simplified, lower risk route to support AM’s industrialisation and rapidly deploy into aircraft platforms. A substantial amount of results overspill onto other sectors (energy, marine, etc.) is also foreseen. The project, which is supported by Innovate UK (ref: 113164), commenced on the 1 January 2018 and will run for three years.