On July 27, 2021, the EU-funded PULSATE project announced the winners of PULSATE’s 1st Technology Transfer Experiments open call for consortia able to demonstrate an effective adoption of laser solutions by end-users in relation to laser-based advanced additive manufacturing (LBAAM) technologies.
As part of the drive to promote jobs and growth in the European photonics industry, PULSATE was set up in 2020 with a grant of €7.9 million (over $9.2 million) under the EU’s Horizon 2020 program as a four-year project to promote and facilitate the adoption of LBAAM technologies.
LBAAM technologies play an important role in furthering digital production and offer important advantages to the companies that adopt them. However, barriers such as high investment costs, complex technology and system integration, and lack of awareness hinder their adoption by subject matter experts (SMEs). PULSATE aims to mitigate these barriers by creating a Europe-wide network to enable and encourage SMEs to participate in LBAAM innovation and become more globally competitive.
PULSATE’s first Technology Transfer Experiments (TTE) Open Call closed on April 29, 2021, with 35 proposals submitted from 16 different European countries. The proposals have since gone through a rigorous, multi-step selection process to identify the best teams and experiments able to demonstrate an effective adoption of LBAAM laser solutions by end-users.
They were first evaluated by external experts from the laser industry, who selected 25 that passed the required threshold. These were then considered by the PULSATE Selection Committee, who selected the best 18 candidates to attend the “Jury Day,” where each team presented their proposal and answered questions from the jury.
Finally, after passing a formal review, the jury selected the 10 best proposals to receive up to €150,000 (over $175,000) in funds and join a the 13-month support program that includes technical support from PULSATE’s technical partners, business mentoring from FundingBox, media exposure, and access to private and public funding.
Here are the winners of the PULSATE project’s 1st Technology Transfer Experiments Open Call:
1. Proposal partners: Lumos Lazer Anonim Şirketi and VSY Biyoteknololoji ve İlaç Sanayi A.Ş (Turkey)
Experiment: Intraocular lens cutting with gigahertz burst femtosecond lasers
Aims: to develop a polymer cutting process with femtosecond lasers on intraocular lenses (IOLs) to eliminate labor-intensive operational steps with high energy consumption and lower the defect rate.
2. Proposal partners: EURO-MULTITEL SA, LASEA.SA (Belgium), and RESCOLL (France)
Experiment: Titanium implants surface structuration by new gigahertz ultrashort laser efficient process
Aims: To demonstrate the potentiality of this technology for the fabrication and texturization of titanium implants and other potential applications and materials.
3. Proposal partners: AMiquam SA (Switzerland) and Mizar Additive Manufacturing S.L.U. (Spain)
Experiment: Digital in-process NDT for laser-based powder additive manufacturing
Aims: To prove a disruptive additive inspection technology strategy that allows the “in process” controlled layer by layer non-destructive testing (NDT) of molten metal during powder-bed fusion by laser.
4. Proposal partners: Innovative Materials Limited and Laser Optical Engineering Limited (UK)
Experiment: Laser additive manufacturing for novel, large-scale thermoelectric device
Aims: to develop a pilot-scale selective laser melting (SLM) process to self-encapsulate uniaxially pressed bismuth telluride thermoelectrics to deliver cost-effective fully densified thermoelectric legs with superior microstructure and properties.
5. Proposal partners: BBW Lasertechnik GmbH (Germany) and Civan Advanced Technologies Ltd. (Israel)
Experiment: Laser welding of hard-to-weld aluminum alloys
Aims: To develop machine build-up of new coherent beam combining (CBC) technology and experiments of aluminum welding with new beam shaping possibilities.
6. Proposal partners: BIOMIMETIC (Greece) and Optimal Optik Kft. (Hungary)
Experiment: Scale-up of biomimetic antireflective surface laser structuring
Aims: Biomimetic will provide Optimal with AR glass optical components in order to validate the added image quality value for specific microscopy applications such as bioimaging and surface analysis.
7. Proposal partners: LASER CLADDING VENTURE NV (Belgium) and New Infrared Technologies (Spain)
Experiment: Laser cladding of large twin barrels
Aims: To implement a cost-efficient process with ensured quality and first-time-right automated production flow, including a monitor and control system to coat the inside of twin barrels with laser cladding technology.
8. Proposal partners: PRES-X SRL (Italy) and CAILABS SAS (France)
Experiment: Additive manufacturing with laser beam shaping
Aims: Beam shape optimization for increasing productivity and material processability of the laser powder-bed fusion additive manufacturing process.
9. Proposal partners: Electronic and Opto-Mechanic Engineering EXOM SL and DELASER GLOBAL SOLUTIONS S.A. (Spain)
Experiment: Cost-effective sensor fusion for AM/LMD quality control
Aims: To develop a cost-effective monitoring and control system to be integrated in the laser metal deposition (LMD) process for quality improvement and manufacturing cost reduction.
10. Proposal partners: Imagine Optic and Europe Technologies (France)
Experiment: Fibered LASER shock peening
Aims: Fatigue life improvement of critical components by focusing on Fibered LASER Shock Peening (FLASP) that permits more flexibility and versatility than standard LSP because of the deporting of the laser beam, thanks to an optical fiber.
The next Technology Transfer Open Call will launch in July 2022. On top of that, PULSATE will launch Adopters Open Calls in Q1 2022 and Q2 2023 for SMEs that are interested in technical and economic feasibility assessment for the implementation of LBAAM technologies into their processes. Interested applicants are invited to sign up to receive a news when the future opportunity will be launched at pulsate-adopters.fundingbox.com.