The deadline for the FOF 13 Call (Photonics Laser-based Production) is approaching. Project proposals can be submitted for research and innovation actions as well as for innovation actions by 21 January 2016.
This call address the topics of
- "From design to piece" – Excellence in laser-based additive industrial manufacturing
- Rapid individualised laser-based production
Total funding available is 30 million euros.
Laser-based manufacturing has become very competitive and is one of the back-bones of modern production technologies. Highly accurate mass production is available for a wide range of products in a wide range of industries. Whilst laser processing is highly flexible, the change from one production lot to the next usually requires operator intervention, reconfigurations and costly down times to adjust current processing tools to the new task. The trend to individualisation requires a high degree of digitization as well as tools and systems which are highly autonomous and automated to reduce production time and costs.
Additive manufacturing (AM) offers a number of advantages over conventional manufacturing including the unprecedented freedom of design for example in terms of geometry, material composition and intrinsic properties of the work piece. Whilst laser-based AM is used for prototyping and has begun to penetrate some smaller markets, it is not yet competitive on a larger scale especially with respect to production speed and costs. In order to increase the productivity of laser-based AM and to bring it a significant step further towards industrial manufacturing a better mastering of all stages of the process chain and their interaction is necessary.
Photonics projects funded in the context of FoF and lasers may be found here: FP7 and H2020.
The presentation on the FOF INFO DAY can see seen here: Photonics laser based production