In conjunction with 17 European partners, CPT bid for funding for a research project which will combine the expertise of academia, manufacturing and enterprise to develop a flexible laser-based manufacturing system.
The research project will be led by Dr Shan Lou and Professor Jane Jiang over a period of three years. The CPT will work closely with the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), specifically the Laser Processing Group and the Modelling and Simulation Group and use its expertise to conduct surface metrology for laser processes verification and simulation validation and correlation.
Due to emerging materials and digital technologies, the product design space is larger than ever. Despite this, EU manufacturers are struggling to innovate, with traditional tools presenting a major bottleneck.
Existing machining tools were designed for a more stable world when a single process flow would remain unchanged for years. To increase competitiveness and respond to new opportunities, the manufacturing industry now needs customisable tools, applicable to multiple processes, and rapidly reconfigurable in response to changing needs.
FLASH
To boost innovation in manufacturing FLASH (Flexible Laser-based mAnufacturing system through preciSion pHoton distribution) is an industry driven project, led by global manufacturing leader PRIMA. Supported by 17 partners from across Europe, including the University of Huddersfield, the project will combine expertise from the worlds of academia, manufacturing and enterprise.
FLASH will leverage the benefits of laser-based manufacturing, which is more flexible, more amenable to digital control, and generates less waste than traditional mechanical, chemical and thermal processes.
Whilst state-of-the-art laser-based machines are optimised for a single application, FLASH will develop a flexible platform with three built-in laser sources, allowing multi-wavelength emission, over a broad pulse length regime with dynamic beam shaping, in a flexible robotic/CNC cell with three different beam delivery heads.
The result will be a futureproof system capable of at least 10 macro and micro production processes over all major material types, designed to enable flexible and customisable manufacturing of rapidly evolving products for a range of industries.
Benefitting industry
The benefits of FLASH will be industrially demonstrated in the automotive (car cross beam), medical (hip implant), e-mobility (electric motor hairpins) and tooling (micro drills, super abrasive grinding wheels) industries, where significant process-time, cost and energy savings are expected, alongside unlocking product benefits through design modifications and material substitutions not possible using existing technologies.
