AM Center Expands Its Educational Offerings

After hosting introductory seminars for beginners and brief webinars for members, the Application Center for Additive Manufacturing (AM Center) is now expanding its offering to include more in-depth training and hands-on sessions focused on specific technologies for partners and customers. In February, Alfa Laval visited the centre for two full days of training focused on Directed Energy Deposition, DED.

"As part of the centre, we take every opportunity to expand our knowledge. This is a great chance to learn from others’ experiences, helping us avoid common mistakes. It’s valuable to see first-hand what’s required to implement a technology – from assembly and training to software and preparation. We already have a strong understanding of Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB), and now we’re aiming to build the same level of expertise in DED," says Johan Stenermark, AM Design Engineer at Alfa Laval.

This particular session was organised at Alfa Laval’s initiative, but the vision is for the centre to regularly offer similar training opportunities to all interested parties, as part of its business support efforts.

"Activities like these are a natural extension of the centre’s mission, and we plan to offer them to all partners and clients looking to deepen their understanding of machines and processes. We believe this kind of training will help Swedish businesses make more informed decisions when investing in AM equipment and, in the long run, support the wider adoption of additive manufacturing across Swedish industry. Alfa Laval was the first to take part, and we hope to see strong interest from other partners as well," says Arvid Svanberg, Co-Director of AM Center at RISE.

Alfa Laval has been an active partner in the centre since its inception in 2021 and is also a co-owner of the equipment. They welcome the growing emphasis on education.

“It is great, and we’re happy to support it! To truly understand a process, it’s important to speak not only with those responsible for the equipment but also with the operators – the people who actually use the machines,” says Per Gabrielson, Technology Transformation Senior Project Manager at Alfa Laval.

“The centre provides a unique opportunity to gain practical insights. If we had approached the machine supplier directly, we would have spoken to a salesperson, which isn’t what we’re looking for. Hands-on experience is crucial and one of the main reasons we are part of the centre,” adds George Persson, AM Engineer at Alfa Laval.

What Does DED Offer?

DED is an additive manufacturing process that utilises focused heat energy – in AM Center's case, a laser – to weld metal powder or filler material, in the form of wire, by melting them as they are applied. Unlike other AM processes, DED is particularly well suited for repair work and metal cladding. Interest in this technology has grown within Alfa Laval in recent years.

“There is definitely increasing interest in DED at Alfa Laval. Currently, our needs cannot be met with PBF-LB or other AM technologies. To determine whether DED is the right solution in a specific case, we need to assess whether it is economically viable and offers technical and sustainability improvements,” says Per Gabrielson.

The team’s primary mission is to gather as much knowledge as possible about the equipment, materials, and additive manufacturing processes and transfer it to Alfa Laval’s internal R&D department. As a result, knowledge exchange with RISE is highly valued. However, there are also other benefits to being a member of the centre.

“It’s valuable for us to test machines and processes that we don’t have in-house and to collaborate with other companies facing similar challenges. Without this kind of cooperation, there’s a risk that everyone develops the same solutions in parallel, which could slow down the pace of implementation and industrialisation in Sweden unnecessarily. I would say the centre is unique in bringing together so many companies to collaborate on driving development forward. Since we are not in direct competition with each other, we can often be open in our discussions,” says Johan Stenermark.