Services

PAMI has provided a large range of services in additive manufacturing and related areas, involving partnerships between academia, industry and other entities. You can apply here for new services.

The most relevant services are listed below. 

Strengthening human resources skills in AM and related areas. PAMI is well aligned to the needs of preparing and skilling a new generation of human resources who can take up the emerging challenges in industry 4.0. PAMI is the unique RI in AM/3DP, tackling challenges through S&T, and offering a stimulating environment for pursuing studies, impactful research, and inspiring future leading scientists/inventors/entrepreneurs. Within this context, PAMI has provided educational services and has prepared a new generation of human resources (HR) through the establishment of the new advanced and technical training programmes:

a) Advanced training

a1) PhD programme in Direct Digital Manufacturing for the Polymer and Mould Industries (1st edition 2021). The PhD programme involves the University of Minho and the Polytechnic of Leiria, and it is also supported by 13 companies and 8 non-business institutions. The PhD programme is focused on the progressive digitalisation of the industry (I.4.0)

a2) Master Engineering programme in Direct Digital Manufacturing (1st edition 2019). This International Master was designed to respond to the challenges of I.4.0 using DDM-related knowledge and capabilities

b) Technical training

b1) Technical programme in Direct Digital Manufacturing (1st edition 2019). This technical programme was created by PAMI and IEFP Institute, aiming to prepare and skill a new generation of HR from technical/societal perspectives

b2) DDM technical programmes integrated into “Nucleos de IDT” for technicians/engineers from several companies (2019, 2020): ATT company; DT2 company; Plastimago company; Placido Roque company; ADIRA company; technical training programme on AM technologies provided to graduate students under ADDISPACE EU project.

Development and implementation of novel AM-related facilities. Three main novel PAMI laboratories were successfully implemented. They are open to the academy, industry and society:

–   PRINTBIG LABORATORY. This new lab was implemented to allow the 3DP/4DP of large products of metals, polymers, concrete and composites.   This is a state-of-the-art lab, being a key advancement in the PAMI research facilities.

–   TRAINING FACTORY. The implementation of the training factory has allowed the stimulation and valorisation of scientific results, towards the   creation of new start-ups. It provides a suitable environment, linking high qualified young people, entrepreneurs, technicians, allowing to share   efficient vocabulary on knowledge valorisation, good practices, and business opportunities.

–   MECH LABORATORY. The advanced mechatronics laboratory is a suitable research environment to perform research on MEMS, Wearable   Devices; and Biomedical Prostheses.

Development of novel AM-related prototypes. PAMI has developed several laboratory prototypes/apparatus. They can be used by the academy, industry and society:

–  BIOMEDβeta SYSTEM. The 3D bio-Manufacturing system was developed to print novel heterogeneous structures for tissue engineering/medical   applications.

–ECO-LASAR SYSTEM. The additive manufacturing large scale robotic apparatus allows the fabrication of large-scale eco-composites parts in a wide   range of waste materials (wood, tyre, cork…), incorporating waste into recycled polymer matrix, contributing for a more sustainable environment. –

–P-LASAR SYSTEM. The additive manufacturing large scale robotic apparatus allows the fabrication of large-scale polymer-based parts. –

–C-LASAR SYSTEM. The additive manufacturing large scale robotic apparatus allows the fabrication of large-scale cement-based parts. –

–OPTIBIOMATE APPARATUS. It is an optimised version of the BIOMEDβeta system to produce 3D multimaterial scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. The incorporation of a clean flow unit and a digital camera makes it possible to produce scaffolds in a clean environment and provides a monitoring tool to analyse constructs during the production, respectively. –

–FFF SYSTEM. The fused filament fabrication apparatus was developed for the deposition of thermoplastics impregnated with carbon fibres. This system allows the localized and oriented deposition of continuous fibres or long fibres, pre-impregnated or not, in a thermoplastic matrix, playing a key role in the reinforcement of polymer components for advanced engineering applications at a low cost.

–INSITUBIOMAS SYSTEM. This system was developed to reinvent the biomanufacturing systems by using an usability approach for “in-situ” clinic   temporary implants fabrication. The system intendeds to be fully adapted for use in the hospital context. –

–NEXTPARTS APPARATUS. It is a novel multimaterial 3D stereo-lithography system (named NEXT.parts system) which allows the manufacturing of hybrid parts through the use of an additive process that adds polymer resin to another, pre-existing object (metallic, polymeric, ceramics, or others). –

–I.FILM SYSTEM. This is a novel manufacturing system based on electrospinning technique to produce ultrathin thermoplastic films with multifunctional characteristics with several industrial application (e.g. food packaging). –

–BIOSITUS APPARATUS. This is a novel apparatus able to print multi-material biomedical structures, including bio-thermoplastics (hard materials) and hydrogels (soft materials) in a sterilised environment. The BioSitus apparatus can operate in a hospital environment, which represents a straightforward step in these kinds of technologies. –

–AM BIOREACTORS. 3 advanced bioreactors specifically designed and additive manufactured for cell culture studies. –

–AMC SYSTEM. This is a new additive manufacturing equipment based on hybrid fabrication (powder-bed and extrusion) of ceramic parts, which can be placed in an industrial environment.

–SOFT ROBOTIC HAND. This bionic system is based on robotic fingers composed of 3D printed endoskeleton and covered by an elastomeric skin,   which is capable to grasp various objects (metal, polymers). –

–L-SPINNING APPARATUS. This is a new laboratory electrospinning-based apparatus that allows the manufacturing of multilayer films in which one of the layers is obtained by electrospinning. –

–I-SPINNING SYSTEM. This is a new electrospinning-based system that allows the manufacturing of multilayer films in which one of the layers is obtained by electrospinning. It was specifically designed and fabricated to be placed in an industrial environment. –

–H-BIGPRINT SYSTEM. This hybrid 5 axes 3DP-based system integrates direct energy deposition using plasma (powder and wire), cold metal transfer, and a 5-axis CNC machine, enabling the manufacturing of hybrid parts in several materials. –

–F-BODY APPARATUS. This is a novel 3D scanning apparatus composed by 128 digital cameras that allow the obtention of 3D digital model of human full body. –

–ANKLE-FOOT APPARATUS. This is a novel 3D scanning apparatus specifically developed to obtain ankle-foot 3D digital models for the additive manufacturing of customised orthoses of patients with stroke/cerebral palsy.

–AMG SYSTEM. This is a new 4 axes AM-based system composed by 3 different zones, glass melting, transition, and construction zones, which is   specifically designed to produce AM-based glass parts (ongoing). –

–AM-PIN APPARATUS. This is a new 4 axes AM-based system composed by an extrusion-based module and a pins construction platform, enabling the manufacturing of AM parts without supports. It is a key advantage regarding the AM state of art technologies (ongoing).

Development of novel AM-related physical models. Although not formally declared as a research output, more than 70 physical models were designed and manufactured based on AM/3DP technologies. The physical models were produced in metals, polymers, ceramics and composites, ranging from Micro to Macroscale (including non-conventional large AM/3DP physical models). They were produced for the academia, industry and society:

–CONFORMAL MODELS. 5 conformal cooling parts produced using metal AM technology for mould multi-cavities to improve injection mould cooling systems. –

–FIN HEAT EXCHANGERS. 4 models composed by several channels with internal fins were designed and manufactured using metal AM technology to enhance heat transfer in injection moulding. –

–SMART PROJECTILES. 3 additive manufactured projectiles capable to change their shapes according to thermal/pressure fields. –

–CONSTRUCTAL INSERTS. 2 additive manufactured inserts designed based on constructal theory for micro-cooling systems, enabling an appropriate thermal management in injection moulding. –

–C-AM CHAIRS. 3 concrete additive manufactured chairs (at real scale) for public gardens. –

–T-AM CHAIRS. 2 tire-based additive manufactured chairs (at real scale) for public spaces. –

–P-AM CHAIRS. 3 polymer-based additive manufactured chairs (at real scale) for public spaces.

–VAT4FLOWERS. 1 polymeric container specifically designed and additive manufactured (at real scale) for flowers placed in outdoor spaces.

–BUS STOP. 1 tire-based additive manufactured bus stop (at real scale) for public spaces. –

–DRONE HEAT EXCHANGER. 1 topological optimised heat exchanger manufactured using metal AM technology applied to drone batteries cooling. –

–AM ROCKET MODELS. 2 rocket nozzle models produced using metal AM technology for laboratory tests. –

–G-THERMOSETS MODELS. 4 composite models composed by pine rosin-derived and clay. –

–C-ORTHOSES. 2 customised additive manufactured orthoses to support orthopaedics treatment. –

–3DP CERAMIC MODELS. 39 ceramic/polymer-based models specifically designed and 3D printed for testing as consume goods.

Development of novel mathematical and computational applications for Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM). PAMI has developed several mathematical and computational tools for DDM applications:

–TRAJECTonCERAMIC. Novel computer tool for generating continuous trajectories for extrusion and for drop on demand using ceramics. –

–HYBRIDSOFT. Homemade computational tool that integrates additive product manufacturing procedures with subtractive product manufacturing, management, and automatic distribution of additive and subtractive interim tasks on the shop floor. –

–inSituBIOMAS. This is a homemade computational model (functional algorithm and software) for generation of additive manufacturing trajectories in medical applications. –

–LABELTECH. Homemade software application to design of tags, oriented for the production of moulds by lithography. –

–QUANTUM SEGMENTATION TOOL. This is a homemade computer tool to perform enhanced image segmentation. The procedural approach may be parameterised with optimised values for a specific type of data. It uses an algorithm which is inspired by the superposition principle of Quantum Mechanics, in the sense that each particular pixel has a certain probability of being of a certain type (boundary, interior, exterior or noise) and only when an observation is made, by means of choosing a designated threshold value, it gets a concrete state. The procedure is helpful to compute accurate several regions in the same image/layer. –

–QUATERNION 3DP. A homemade computer tool developed based on the basic properties of the quaternion algebra and use the fact that quaternion multiplication can be used as an efficient tool to work with rotations on the 3D-space. This computer tool has several applications on 3D printing, for example it can be used to generate a surface by placing successive planar curves (interpreted as crossed sections) along a structural curve on the 3D-space.

–PRIME RECTANGLE. This is a homemade computer tool to compute optimal rectangular geometry (RoI- region of interest) in arbitrary images with an associated saliency map. Although saliency maps provide an individual relevance measure for each pixel, to find the sub-image (i.e., rectangular region) that contains the set of the most relevant pixels requires an optimisation procedure to define the boundaries of the best RoI. This is achieved by the method devised in the published paper by following an approach based on balancing the amount of relevant information that is included and excluded from the RoI. The results show that such method is capable of finding the most relevant rectangular RoI and thus to extract the optimum sub-images according to the relevance measure given by a generic saliency map. Since the method is not tied to any particular type of images, it finds application in quite different fields, such as salient object extraction and processing in industry and surveillance, image compression using attention modelling, biomedical imaging, etc. –

–MOBI Toolbox. A Matlab procedure for finding finite algebraic structures of a given type, Finite Mobi Algebras in Matlab. –

–BUILD-IT-OPTIMAL. A global optimization computer framework was developed for solar building design applications. Besides the overall framework design, the BUILD-IT-OPTIMAL consists on the identification of different building shapes and their main parameters, the creation of an algorithmic description for these main shapes and the formulation of the objective function, respecting a building’s energy consumption (solar energy, heating and insulation). Additionally, the conception of an optimization pipeline, combining an energy calculation tool with a geometric scripting engine was established. The methods developed leads to an automated and optimized 3D shape generation for the projected building (based on the desired conditions and according to specific constrains). The computer tool can help in the construction of real buildings that account for less energy consumption and for a more sustainable world.

–CERAMICS MM Toolbox. This is a homemade computer tool to assist the layer-by-layer fabrication of multimaterial ceramic structures. –

–COMBio TOOLBOX. This is a homemade computer tool to perform (in-situ) both the optimisation of the processing parameters and the automatic 3D reconstruction of biostructures morphology in a synchronized manner. –

–GyroidSTL. A Matlab toolbox to convert Gyroidal-cuboidal patch structures in STL surfaces for 3D printing purposes. –

–SCAFFOLDMULTIDESIGN. A homemade parametric algorithm that supports the manufacturing of multishape curved scaffolds. –

–BIOREATOR DT. A homemade digital twin model of a novel bioreactor that allows the optimization of the application of perfusion and electromagnetic stimuli.