University of Toronto Researchers Advancing Metal AM for Automotive, Energy, and Biomedical Applications

A team of engineering researchers is working to advance metal additive manufacturing (AM) at the University of Toronto’s first metal 3D printing laboratory, to improve manufacturing across aerospace, biomedical, energy and automotive industries.

“We are working to uncover the fundamental physics behind the additive manufacturing process, as well as improving its robustness, and creating novel structural and functional materials through its applications,” says Professor Yu Zou. Zou’s lab currently utilizes both selective laser melting (SLM) and directed energy deposition (DED). 

Zou’s lab. “With traditional manufacturing, that’s really hard to accomplish, but metal printing gives you a lot more control and customized products.”

“Conventional manufacturing techniques are still well suited for large-scale industrial manufacturing,” says PhD candidate Tianyi Lyu. “But additive manufacturing has capabilities that go beyond what conventional techniques can do. These include the fabrication of complex geometries, rapid prototyping and customization of designs, and precise control of the material properties.”

Since building up the lab’s metal printing capabilities, Zou and his team have established partnerships with government research laboratories, including National Research Council Canada (NRC), and many Canadian companies.