ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING PROJECT CLUSTER MEETING Polymer and Sand Development for AM Fundació CIM C/Llorens i Artigas, 12 Parc Tecnològic de Barcelona Barcelona, Spain 2 May 2016 Prof DJ de Beer North West University Vaal University of Technology South Africa

Polymer & Sand Development for AM Objectives: Identify local materials suppliers /new manufacturing possibilities to lower the cost of polymers and sand printing. The high printing cost is due to the weak rand and high import cost of material. Therefore, development of a local material supply base will have a significant impact on the uptake. Aim: To assist industries to compete internationally. A decrease in consumable price will make a significant impact on local AM use, and can stimulate a value chain that contributes to economic development and job creation. There are a number of benefits of direct printing of sand cores and moulds for sand casting, in parallel with polymer printing of patterns / cores for investment casting (indirect prototyping). Currently the foundry industry is starting to utilize the sand printing technology to their benefit. The uptake of this technology is however, still very low due to the high printing costs involved.

Polymer & Sand Development for AM ER 1 Development and qualification of Local Sand for a 3D Inkjet printing process for the printing of foundry-quality sand for the printing of sand moulds.

Polymer & Sand Development for AM Description of result and the resulting innovation Creation of a local sand supply logistics chain, with material well-known to the specific industry cluster; Creation of a parallel design optimization process with this specific material in mind, which results in predominantly skills development, so as to create an innovative service and/or innovation / innovation product development capability. Potential customers 3D Inkjet printing OEMs; Local Foundries, Service Bureaus and Users Customer Benefits Innovative capacity and output; New business or enterprise development; Localized production; Increased market share; Increased competitive capability, Reduction in printing costs; Simplification of logistics ; Diversification of materials, etc.

Polymer & Sand Development for AM Technological Readiness Level: Currently between Milestones in the TRL progression up to TRL9: Laboratory validation (3-4) Technology Validation in Industry applications (4-5); Technology Demonstration through repeatable case studies (5-6); Technology validation through real-life industrial applications, including design, simulation, optmisation, inspection, testing measuring and NDA (6-7); Qualification processes where applicable (7-8); Final operational applications (8-9) Main technical challenges in this result: Software acquisition and training costs Case study and resultant technology transfer costs Benchmarking problems (often as a result of competitive products and possible IP/in-house know-how). Time to market: TRL 3 - TRL4: 06/2016 TRL 4 - TRL 5: 03/2017 TRL 5 - TRL 6: 06/2017 TRL 6 - TRL 7: 09/2017 TRL 7 - TRL 8: 12/2017 Full implementation with process qualification where applicable:07/2018 IPRs: Significant IPR possible – possible licensing opportunities and/or local international sales.

Expressions of Interest: Polymer and Sand Development for AM M2-US-EXOVA M5-SA-FORMING M6-SA-MEDAERO M13-EU-AATID PB2-SA-POLYAM PB3-EU-RAPIDOS GT7-MX-CIATEQ GT8-MX-UASLP GT10-EU-CAXMAN GT11-EU-FOFAM GT13-EU-CASSAMOBILE