After two years of development, Trinity Engineers have created a Laser Ablation Particle Acceleration and Observation (LAPAO) Machine, the first of its kind in Europe. This groundbreaking innovation aims to revolutionise additive manufacturing and our understanding of materials.
The LAPAO machine is capable of projecting tiny particles, measuring 10-60 micrometres – about a tenth the width of a human hair – at a glass platform at speeds of up to one kilometre per second. This is recorded by an ultra-high speed camera, shooting at one billion frames per second, revealing whether the particles will bounce, stick or break apart on impact.
This is a massive development in the field of additive manufacturing, setting the stage for further developments in cold spray techniques. Prior to the invention of this machine, scientists relied on computer simulations to predict what would happen to these micro-particles upon impact at different speeds. However, due to software limitations, these simulations are limited in their accuracy. Now, researchers can directly observe these microsecond events, giving them a newfound certainty on the behaviour of important materials.
A key application of experiments done by the machine is the ability to improve cold spray techniques. Cold spray is a method of adding materials – such as metals – at supersonic speeds, in order to repair existing structures without having to melt or deform the structure being worked on or create entirely new free standing structures with high density and bond strength. While currently cold spray techniques are energy-intensive and inefficient when compared to other manufacturing techniques, Trinity’s research with the Made Cold project – an EU-funded multi-university collaboration – seeks to make the process more sustainable, cost-effective, and scalable.
Trinity’s Science and Technology in Advanced Manufacturing (STAM) team is the group of scientists who created the LAPAO machine. They completed the project after two years of hard work. PHD student and key researcher with the STAM group, Leo Devlin, explained some of the complexities.
“There were several challenges while building the machine. Having never designed and manufactured something at this scale before, it was a steep learning curve trying to understand the individual components of the machine and how I can get them to communicate with each other with minimal delay. Since the event we’re observing occurs in micro-seconds, it’s important there is as little delay as possible so having the correct equipment identified, knowing it will operate and perform as required and purchasing it on a budget are all difficult factors to balance.”
Lengthy delivery times added months to the timeline, while laser optics presented other obstacles to overcome. “At high energies it is very easy to damage optics and alter the shape/scatter beam. Knowing which optics were required and ensuring they were suitable was a steep learning curve.”
The STAM group has been able to further the understanding of important materials and along with Made Cold Europe will position additive manufacturing and cold spray for transformative applications. According to Made Cold, future developments will lead to additive manufacturing being used to repair wind turbines, construct multi-material structures, and even repair space structures as the process does not rely on gravity.
Dr Shuo Yin, Principal Investigator of the STAM team, emphasises the broader impact saying in an interview with Trinity College Dublin “The machine’s abilities will help researchers with a wide variety of interests learn more about particle behaviours relevant to their niche area of focus. As such the application and impact potential is huge”.
As the first facility in Europe, capable of laser-accelerated particle observation, the LAPAO machine opens new frontiers in material sciences and in the development of manufacturing techniques. With the information provided by the experiments the STAM team will make, researchers will be able to develop more efficient, sustainable manufacturing processes that will be able to transform industries from clean energy to aerospace.
