Italian technological district for the engineering of polymeric and composite materials and structures
Italian technological district for the engineering of polymeric and composite materials and structures
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The Amico project is aimed at using of additive processes, namely to generate the component slice after slice and then to compose it into a 3D geometry using not necessarily powders or metal filaments, but carbon fibers and resins thermoplastic or thermosetting and realizing hybrid systems, consisting of different matrix materials and/or multifunctional capacities. The approach will be tailored to the needs of 4 different industril sectors: aereonautical, missile, automotive and pharmaceutical in a cross-fertilization optic. Appropriate manufacturing processes will be developed and an integrated design logic of the components to be buit, based on innovative design philosophies, will be introduced, capable of implementing that necessary process of converting existing configurations into more efficient ang lighter structures using their own of the topological optimizations that additive technology makes available.
Processes developed will also be implemented in an Integrated System Logic, where the work center can produce a complete “one shot” manufacturing additive product, auxiliary processes for eliminating/reducing excess material such as supports, roughness and dimensional abnormalities and quality controls (NDI + dimensional) – in compliance with industry quality standards.
Alongside the development of new industrial processes, a new smart factory model can not fail to take into account the principles of process sustainability and natural resource conservation. In the light of the circular economy, attention will be paid to the possibility of recycling machining scrap and in particular the end-life of the residues of thermoplastic carbon-based systems coming from work finishing activities. For each of the application sectors, some benchmarks are identified on which the benefits of the innovation of the development research will be measured. Amico is a unique case: companies from different sectors (the largest Italian manufacturer and aviation manifacturer, the largest Italian automotive manufacturer, the world leader in the missile market and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies) cooperate with each other and with the most prestigious universities and southern and national research institutes and it is set up as a multidisciplinary transversal project and “multi-KET”.
