Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is a technique used to fabricate objects using a "layered" approach, adding material to the workpiece as it is manufactured during the production cycle. 

Specifically, polymer powder bed fusion (PBF) is an additive manufacturing technology that uses polymer powder to mass produce objects quickly.

During this process, it is critical to know the cooling profile of the components produced. Temperature variations between layers can in fact generate different microstructures, which affect the mechanical properties of the final product. The latter may then be unsuitable for use and be discarded, causing waste of energy and material.

To avoid this inhomogeneity during the cooling phase, the consortium consisting of the Institute of Systems and Applied Electronics (ISEA), the FOS Spa Group, the University of Genoa, inspire AG, Sintratec AG, and the FOS Lithuania Group is working to develop a microwave-based imaging system that allows the thermal volumetric profile of the entire printing chamber.

Thanks to this system, it will be possible to simultaneously monitor all parts produced during the cooling phase even when the parts are immersed in the polymer powder during processing.This is a particularly innovative goal: to date, conventional thermal cameras are only able to monitor the surface layer of the polymer powder.

"This project involves a variety of different technical disciplines that need to be purposefully integrated, making it an exciting opportunity to explore new approaches to collaboration between different areas of science," comments project leader and science area manager of analog and radio frequency electronics, telecom and imaging systems at ISEA, Eng. Samuel Poretti.

"We are currently about halfway through its overall lifetime.The first part of the integration of the components that have been developed individually by each partner has recently begun, and we expect to get first acquisitions from the complete system under laboratory conditions soon, which will be able to allow us to make initial assessments of the overall performance."

The µTEAM project is funded by the European Eureka Eurostars program and will end in 2025.