UK universities unite to advance metal Additive Manufacturing research community
January 22, 2025
On December 17, 2024, Dr Sophie Cox, Associate Professor and UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, hosted the first UK metal Additive Manufacturing academic roundtable event at the University of Birmingham. The event, held at Edgbaston Park Hotel, successfully brought together nearly thirty research leaders in metal AM from eleven Universities across the UK. Together with experts from the Manufacturing Technology Centre and the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, as well as Josh Dugdale, Head of Additive Manufacturing UK and Anke Davies, EPSRC, UKRI, the group reflected on the current status of the metal AM research community.
The day began with an open panel discussion between Dr Cox and Professors Richard Hague and Chris Tuck from the University of Nottingham, and Professor Iain Todd from the University of Sheffield. Multi-material Additive Manufacturing, autonomous processing and the continued potential of these layer-by-layer technologies to enable new functionalities across industrial sectors were identified as areas for development.
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While the group agreed there was much research still to be done in understanding the inherent complexities of metal AM, the panel noted that this view was not always shared by external community stakeholders. Stories in which funders, the public or policymakers had viewed Additive Manufacturing as ‘being a done deal’ were shared across the room.
Through small round table discussions, the group unpicked what key messages need to be used to re-educate non-technical research stakeholders. The groups settled on the importance of metal AM’s duality: you are forming the material and part at the same time.
“We must learn to educate others about what goes on within the ‘black box’ of metal 3d printers. By doing this strategically as a community we can have a bigger impact, enabling the UK to realise the benefits of adopting these game changing technologies,” stated Dr Sophie Cox, University of Birmingham.
To support this shift in mindset, Professor Iain Todd advocated for viewing metal AM as an enabling technology to meet numerous national challenges, including the government’s missions around making Britain a clean energy superpower and futureproofing the NHS fit.
Enhancing the circularity of metal AM processes was identified as an important process area that may bluster industrial adoption. Collectively, the room felt there was substantial opportunity for newer industrial tools like process monitoring systems to be used more intelligently, shifting from input to output parameter optimisation with the aim of reducing quality assurance costs and enhancing trust in metal AM technologies. Connecting with experts in artificial intelligence and machine learning was identified as a route to achieving these goals.
The mention of AI led to a debate on the automation of metal AM processes. It is widely recognised that the high degree of technical skills needed to successfully utilise metal AM processes creates a barrier to adoption. While initially automation and ‘deskilling’ of the metal AM process may be viewed as a threat to technical positions, removing this barrier may enable more UK businesses to leverage these technologies. To further drive this shift, the group recognised a need for more interaction across the TRL pipeline, which may be achieved through forward-thinking funding schemes and opportunities to have open forum discussions between academic and industrial research leaders.
“There is a need to better link up and grow strategic partnerships between UK universities and UK businesses in metal Additive Manufacturing. This will ensure that academia does not duplicate work being done within industry, allowing their focus to remain on driving forward next-generation technologies,” added Dr Cox.
The group has stated that its next steps are to pull together existing industrial AM roadmaps and create a series of quantified actions deemed ‘mission critical’. Disseminating how these changes align with government missions will be key to ensuring continued funding for the UK metal AM research community. The group also plans to work more closely together to ensure continued consensus and a more widespread strategy for educating relevant stakeholders about the numerous exciting things to come from UK metal AM research.
