ALM Benchmarking Center is a network between the E. Amaldi Foundation, businesses, universities and organizations at national and international level. The center offers excellence in all aspects of the design, production and testing of the component, up to determining its qualification according to current European standards. Thanks to the skills and structures made available by the participants, specialized in the production and characterization of materials, to an important machine park and to the cutting-edge design knowledge in both industrial and university contexts, a level of excellence can be guaranteed in terms of production, quality and reliability, at the service of any interested party.
Furthermore, the Center can carry out studies dedicated to improving the current state of the technology, design and reverse engineering, optimizing the production processes of raw materials, their performance and chemical and structural characterization of the products, by tracing a relationship with the process carried out.
The Strategy
The idea behind ALM Benchmarking is to make available to users the knowledge of the new technology that can be obtained through the direct use of instrumentation and printers, production processes and various materials.
The technicians / researchers of the host companies can submit the problems to be addressed and share them with the researchers associated with the center. The same applies to the production or research and development plan.
Benchmarking Center users will be able to:
To deepen knowledge with a new industrial production method by evaluating the advantages and risks associated with an investment on it
Engineering existing components to obtain advantages in terms of performance and / or costs
Evaluate and develop materials specific to particular needs and processable in AM
Making prototypes to be subjected to test procedures
Produce a limited number of pieces / components, with the possibility of realizing them quickly and economically through AM production, instead of investing immediately in a production line.
The Center of Competence and Benchmarking for AM technologies for Space will make use of a network of Companies, Public Research Bodies and University Departments to provide maximum technological and scientific support to interested parties.
To coordinate the Network’s activities, a committee of experts will be set up, which will includes the Italian and European excellences from universities and research bodies. This technical-scientific committee will support the R&D activities proposed by the companies and possibly propose technological innovation paths on additive manufacturing issues: Powders, Processes and Production equipment.
Short and medium term program
The short and medium-term program is structured on two different branches of activity: the “Research and Development” and the more properly “Benchmarking” activity based on feasibility analysis, prototyping and testing.
Testing and benchmarking activities
