The Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Oerlikon have founded an Advanced Manufacturing Institute to ‘drive forward’ metal additive manufacturing technologies.
Through their collaboration, the organisations are hoping to ‘master the technical challenges on the road to industrialisation’ by carrying out a series of research studies. Oerlikon and TUM have previously partnered in 2019 alongside Linde to develop an aluminium-based additive manufacturing alloy for the aerospace and automotive sectors.
The TUM-Oerlikon Advanced Manufacturing Institute will be funded with an annual budget of €3 million for the first five years. In that time, TUM researchers and Oerlikon scientists will collaborate on up to 30 dissertations focusing on technical research along the entire additive manufacturing value chain. This will include the development of tailor-made materials, studies on the printing process, and reciprocal interactions between processes and materials.
“Together with Oerlikon, we wish to transform Munich to become recognised globally as a centre of additive manufacturing technologies,” commented TUM President Professor Thomas F. Hofmann. “This collaboration perfectly complements our Industry on Campus strategy of bringing science and practical applications closer together and making substantive contributions to the industrialisation of additive manufacturing technologies.”
“To further the collaborative synergies between the university and ourselves, we have decided to relocate our business activities together with our in-house research department from Feldkirchen to Garching,” added Dr Sven Hicken, CTO at Oerlikon Surface Solutions Division. “Both partners benefit from such a partnership: doctoral students can use our hardware, including our 3D printers and our laboratories, and we are close to the research activities of a truly excellent university.”
