Scientific Area: Engineering and Technology.

EXPR: Production Technology.

Name of the service: Welding and Welding-based Additive Manufacturing.

Main responsible: Jörg Volpp, Professor.

Category of the service: Research group.

Target group: Industry.

Scientific refence:

The Welding and welding-based additive manufacturing (AM) group at KAM-PT is one of the largest in the Nordic region, comprising around 30 members, including senior researchers, PhD students, and engineers. Research is divided into three key areas: 1. Metallurgy: This area focuses on fundamental studies of welding and AM technologies to enhance understanding of microstructures and defects and their impact on mechanical performance. Research spans various materials, including nickel-based superalloys, duplex stainless steels, aluminum, and titanium alloys. 2. Physical Process Simulation: Here, models are developed to describe heat sources like electric arcs and lasers, predicting outcomes such as porosity, defects, temperature, and stress gradients. 3. Process Control: This area aims to enhance process parameterization and automation through effective sensing, monitoring, and control strategies. The interplay between these research areas fosters collaboration, enabling a multidisciplinary approach that sets this group apart in the Nordic countries. The group’s activities align with industry demands, focusing on producing components from “hard-to-weld” materials and optimizing additive manufacturing processes. With a commitment to improving production rates and understanding of welding processes, the group is actively engaged in national and international organizations, including the International Institute of Welding (IIW) and the Swedish Production Academy (SPA), and has established research collaborations globally.

Offer description:

Welding and welding-based AM is one of the largest research groups within KAM-PT, comprising about 30 people (including senior researchers, PhD students and engineers). The group’s research is grouped into three main areas: Metallurgy: Metallurgy research focuses on fundamental research of welding and welding-based AM technologies to improve the understanding of microstructure, defects, and their effect on mechanical performance. Research is carried out on a wide range of materials from nickel-based superalloys, stainless steels including duplex stainless steels, to aluminium and titanium alloys. Physical Process Simulation: The area of Physical Process Simulation develops models to describe heat sources such as electric arc or laser, as well as the melt pool that can be used to predict the formation of porosity, defects, temperature, and stress gradients etc. Process Control: The area of process control focuses on improving process parametrization and automation (sensing, monitoring, and control). The overlap of the research areas enables a close collaboration and exchange of experience within the group which in turn allows a multi-disciplinary research approach that makes the Welding & Welding based AM group unique in the Nordic countries. Research activities are in line with industrial demands to improve system efficiency through producing components of “hard-to-weld” materials as well as tailoring components based on industrial demands using additive manufacturing methods. Needs of increased production rate and fundamental understanding of arc and laser welding are met by the research performed in the Process control as well as by Process simulation areas of research. The welding research group is the largest group in the Nordic countries and aims to become both nationally and internationally recognized. The group is actively involved in both national and international organizations and societies such as the International Institute of Welding (IIW) and the Swedish Production Academy (SPA) and has established active research collaborations with international partners from both academia and industry.

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