Italian additive manufacturing company Valland, as part of the ToZero project, has successfully converted aluminum alloy scrap from automotive body-in-white production into feedstock powder for laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) metal 3D printing. The project, funded under Italy's 'Innovation Agreement' program, brings together Valland, the Polytechnic University of Turin, the Polytechnic University of Bari, and the Fontana Group. Valland developed LPBF process parameters for recycled AA5083 aluminum alloy powder and printed a structural validation part, 'Voletto'—a car body structure connecting node. The recycled alloy exhibited no hot cracking during printing, and its mechanical properties and ductility met predefined targets; topology optimization reduced the part's mass from 1.68 kg to 0.8 kg. A life cycle analysis conducted in accordance with ISO 14040/44 standards showed that process optimization led to approximately a 73% reduction in carbon footprint. The project also identified key bottlenecks: the printing speed of recycled AA5083 remains significantly slower than that of commercial AlSi10Mg, and the trade-off between material quality and production efficiency is a core challenge that must be addressed before industrialization.
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Valland验证汽车废铝转化为LPBF粉末可行性,碳足迹降低73%
意大利增材制造公司Valland在ToZero项目中,将汽车白车身生产中的铝合金废料转化为激光粉末床熔融(LPBF)金属3D打印的原料粉末。项目由意大利“创新协议”计划资助,汇集了Valland、都灵理工大学、巴里理工大学和Fontana集团。Valland为回收的AA5083铝合金粉末开发了LPBF工艺参数,并打印出结构验证件“Voletto”——一个汽车车身结构连接节点。回收合金打印未出现热裂纹,力学性能和延展性达到预设目标;拓扑优化将验证件质量从1.68 kg降至0.8 kg。依据ISO 14040/44标准的生命周期分析显示,工艺优化使碳足迹降低约73%。项目也揭示了关键瓶颈,回收AA5083的打印速度仍显著慢于商用AlSi10Mg,材料品质与生产效率之间的平衡是产业化前必须解决的核心问题。