The Role of Advanced Materials in the Development of Innovative Manufacturing Processes

Abstract

The present contribution reports on the cutting-edge research activities performed by the authors in the field of innovative manufacturing processes applied to advanced light alloys. These include Friction Stir Welding (FSW), Friction Stir Extrusion (FSE), and Additive Manufacturing (AM). Two new FSW configurations are here introduced and described. A first double-side friction stir welding (DS-FSW), where the welding is performed on both sheet surfaces, one after the other. A second rotating tool FSW (RT-FSW), in which pin is made to rotate around its centerline welding direction, by 0.5 and 1.0 mm. The feasibility of solid-state recycling of a case study, such as an AA1099 machining chips, is exploited using FSE process. In addition, in order to optimize the die design and the process parameters, finite-element (FE) simulation of the process was carried out. The game-changing potential of the metal AM technology is un-veiled through results obtained on light alloys for biomedical applications produced by Powder Bed Fusion (PBF).