Curtin University

Curtin Additive Manufacturing and Surface Manufacturing Capability Overview

Curtin University is making a substantial investment of over $4 million in metal AM instruments under the operation of the Photon Forge Additive Manufacturing (PFAM) Facility situated within the university’s central research infrastructure hub, the John de Laeter Centre (JdLC). The PFAM facility is equipped with deposition based additive equipment for both small- and large-scale manufacturing, with the availability to process a range of alloy systems. The lab facilitates research, development, and training activities in AM by leveraging existing material characterisation and analysis facilities, along with industrial collaborations. Cutting edge characterisation equipment at the JdLC complements the additive manufacturing process, enabling part quantification and characterisation of components via; high resolution electron microscopy, atom probe tomography and computer tomography scanning techniques.

Expertise

Curtin AM team conducts high quality research and engages with partners, both nationally and internationally, in government and industry to deliver targeted solutions to real world problems in the defence, mining, drilling, oil and gas, critical minerals, and energy sectors, where we excel in the following areas:

• Design for Additive Manufacturing – developing design rules tailored to the efficient manufacture of parts by AM, minimising material wastage and machining time in the manufacturing process

• Alloy design for Additive Manufacturing - identifying and formulating compositions suitable to the AM process, developing post thermo-mechanical processing (TMP)  treatments to optimise and homogenise structures and eliminate thermal stresses

• Materials Characterisation - Advanced characterisation of structures at the macro-, micro- and nano-length scale, analysis of failure mechanisms and manufacturing defects

• Qualification and certification of engineering materials – property testing and evaluation in accordance with global and local industrial standards 

Facilities

The PFAM facility at the JdLC hosts state-of-the-art industry metal additive manufacturing systems alongside worldclass characterisation facilities, offering a comprehensive manufacturing workflow of parts from design to manufacture, analysis and certification.  

The PFAM Lab is equipped with the following additive manufacturing machines and their corresponding technology class:

• Desktop Metal Studio – Metal fused deposition modelling, sinter-based equipment for small-medium sized components

• LaserBond – Directed Energy Deposition, powder blown laser deposition for large components, alloy development/multi-materials layering, hybrid manufacture/repair

• AML3D ARCEMY - Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing, wire fed system for large components, fast manufacturing, standardised alloys, hybrid manufacture/repair

The equipment can process a range of material systems including but not limited to: stainless steels, tool steels, copper alloys, aluminium alloys, nickel superalloys / inconel, titanium alloys and refractory alloys.

The added benefit of the additive manufacturing systems employed at PFAM is their ability to build atop existing structures (hybrid manufacturing), deposit material to improve properties (wear, corrosion etc.) and develop new or custom alloys from mixed powder compositions (functional gradient structures, in-situ alloying etc.).

In addition to the AM equipment at the PFAM facility, the Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility at the JdLC has state of the art analysis and characterisation equipment including:

• A range of Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM) equipped with electron back scattered diffraction (EBSD) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) capabilities, with large area mapping capability for structural, crystallography and chemical analysis

• High resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) for material characterisation at the nano-scale with 3D tomography capabilities

• Phase identification and quantification by conventional XRD and in-situ XRD up to 1400 °C temperature heating stage.

Additional equipment capabilities under the JdLC include:

• Atom Probe Tomography (APT) able to determine compositions in structures at a spatial resolution of 1nm

• Computed tomography scanner for large volume defect detection and analysis

  
  

The JdLC also works closely with the Curtin Corrosion Centre (CCC) in the testing and performance of surfaces exposed to severe wear and corrosion conditions (seawater, microbiological influenced corrosion etc.), developing new surface protection systems and strategies to mitigate corrosion / wear in industrial applications following ASTM standardised testing protocols.  

Key Researchers

Dr Karl Davidson 

(PhD, Metal Additive Manufacturing)

Facility Leader - Photon Forge Additive Manufacturing Facility, JdLC

A/Prof Zakaria Quadir 

(PhD, Metal Manufacturing and Advance Characterisation)

Facility Leader – Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility, JdLC                    

Zakaria.Quadir@curtin.edu.au