Microwave Heating
Microwave heating and sintering are fundamentally different from conventional sintering, which involves radiant/resistance heating followed by the transfer of thermal energy via conduction to the inside of the body being processed. Microwave heating is volumetric heating involving the conversion of electromagnetic energy into thermal energy, which is instantaneous, rapid, and highly efficient.
Additive Manufacturing (3D-Printing) Of Nanocomposite Materials
Microwave heating and sintering are fundamentally different from conventional sintering, which involves radiant/resistance heating followed by the transfer of thermal energy via conduction to the inside of the body being processed. Microwave heating is volumetric heating involving the conversion of electromagnetic energy into thermal energy, which is instantaneous, rapid, and highly efficient.
Current Projects
AMable Project
This AMable project (CYBESATS) has enabled us to gain the necessary knowledge, experience and contacts with suppliers that will allow a new business line. So far, we were constrained to design and manufacture only metallic components, but being able to design and manufacture through FDM, has enabled us to take the step to go for plastic structures, and widen the AM usability spectrum. A key point for us in this project is that we were involved in the manufacturing process allowing us to acquire new knowledge about the FDM process with a high temperature plastic and learn about the limits of the process itself.
The team has improved its design capabilities and has understood the limits of the opportunities these materials offer.The present experiment has developed a cubesat structure that is 40% lighter ( using 3D-printed stuctures based on PEEK ) than the traditional one and complies with all the requirements. Furthermore, the assembly process has been simplified, reducing the number of parts (only two halves). The direct consequence of these two facts is that the capability of the platform is increased and heavier payload can be used or the overall weight is reduced and hence, so do are the launching fuel consumption and cost.