MULTHEM : Multi-material additive manufacturing for lightweight and thermal management

第26届气候变化大会强调了减少全球二氧化碳排放以限制全球变暖的迫切需要。运输业约占总投资的1/3。占全球碳排放量的16%，并已确定机队电气化是实现气候中和的主要途径。然而，主要的挑战是组件目前的重量和新系统的成本，以确保效率和长期可持续性。因此，该行业已经认识到需要变革性的技术和生产方法来开发更轻、更高效和更具成本效益的解决方案，以实现这一过渡并实现气候中立。碳纤维复合材料(CFCs)凭借其优异的机械强度，越来越多地被用于取代飞机或高性能车辆等需要轻量化功能的产品中的金属。然而，由于传统的制造工艺和较差的导热性，氟氯化碳的使用一直局限于结构应用。例如，电池、电机和电力电子产品需要有效地消散功率损耗，通常需要单独的热交换器，导致解决方案较重且成本效益较低，这些解决方案仍然使用笨重的设计和重型材料。MULTHEM的愿景是利用不同的材料组合和纳米技术开发一种可靠且经过验证的添加制造(AM)氟氯化碳工艺，并增强其导热性能。这种创新的方法将允许开发组件，如电池和电机外壳，具有结构和冷却功能的双重功能，并以比传统方法更具成本效益的方法。该解决方案将提高产品性能，首先通过只有AM才能实现的设计实现重量减轻，其次通过使用具有增强导热策略的氟氯化碳金属结构，比铝或钢更轻、更坚固。

The 26th Climate Change Conference has highlighted the urgent need to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions to limit global warming. The transport sector accounts for approx. 16% of the global carbon emissions and has identified fleet electrification as the primary route to achieving climate neutrality. However, the main challenges are the current weight of components and the cost of new systems to ensure efficiency and long-term sustainability. As a result, the industry has recognised the need for transformative technologies and production methods to develop lighter, more efficient, and cost-effective solutions to enable this transition and achieve climate neutrality. With their outstanding mechanical strength, Carbon Fibre Composites (CFC) have been increasingly used to replace metals in products requiring lightweight features, such as aircraft or high-performance vehicles. However, due to the traditional manufacturing process and poor thermal conductivity, the use of CFC has been limited to structural applications. For example, batteries, electrical motors, and power electronics, where power losses need to be efficiently dissipated, typically require separate heat exchangers, resulting in heavier and less cost-effective solutions that still utilize bulky designs and heavy materials. The vision of MULTHEM is to develop a reliable and validated Additively Manufactured (AM) CFC process with enhanced thermal conductivity with different material combinations and nanotechnology. This innovative approach will allow the development of components, such as battery and motor housings with dual functionality comprising structural and cooling features and with a more cost-effective approach than traditional methods. This solution will enhance the product performance, first by the weight reduction achieved by designs that only AM enables, and second, by using CFC-metal structures with enhanced thermal conductivity strategies, lighter and stronger than aluminium or steel.