The meeting to kick-off the AMANECO project (ASSESSMENT OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING LIMITS FOR ECO-DESIGN OPTIMIZATION IN HEAT EXCHANGERS) was held on 24 October at the offices of Lortek, coordinator of the project, located in the Basque town of Ordizia. Mª Belén García and Jaime Ochoa attended on behalf of CIDETEC Surface Engineering.

The AMANECO project is part of the Clean Sky 2 programme.  Clean Sky 2 is funded by the European Horizon 2020 programme and reinforces the collaboration, competitiveness and global leadership of the European aeronautics industry.

With a budget of 1.5 million euros and a duration of 36 months, the main objective of this project is to optimise an additive manufacturing process so as to produce heat exchangers and, in particular, to use the potential of the SLM process to create thin layers, one after another, resulting in heat exchangers with a thin wall thickness and also a good surface finish. More specifically, the project seeks to investigate the aerothermal and mechanical performance of thin walls, predict their performance in the design of the heat exchanger and, as a result, be able to optimise the design process in an environmentally friendly way once the limits of the technology are known. The crucial issue will be how to manufacture thin walls with complex structures that still maintain good mechanical properties and the appropriate surface roughness.

Achieving the AMANECO technical objectives will increase the efficiency of heat exchangers and reduce their manufacturing cost, time to market and waste of material and scrap.

The main role of CIDETEC within the AMANECO project is to develop and implement a chemical post-processing method to improve the quality of thin wall surfaces and curves manufactured using additives in AlSi7Mg0.6 and INCO718. CIDETEC is also involved in the evaluation of surface properties and porosity characterisation.