Additive manufacturing of multi-material systems
How can multiple metals be 3D-printed in the same component, and how can metals be 3D printed together with materials of other classes (ceramics, polymers) to create structures with unique properties? That’s what I, Dr.ir. Constantinos Goulas, am currently investigating.
I am an Assistant Professor in the Chair of Design Engineering, Dept. Design Production & Management, Faculty of Engineering Technology. Furthermore, I am Scientific Advisor of RAMLAB BV and a freelance consultant. My research focuses on multi-material Additive Manufacturing, also known as 3D printing. I have a passion for metals, in particular about how processing methods can affect their microstructure (and the resulting properties).
Background
Before this position, I got a doctorate degree from Delft University of Technology in Materials Science and Engineering (Delft, NL) and a Diploma (MSc) of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering from National Technical University of Athens (Athens, GR).
From 2017 till 2020 I worked for RAMLAB BV (Rotterdam, NL) as a Lead Scientist, and for Delft University of Technology as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Group of Joining and Additive Manufacturing. As part of my duties at RAMLAB, I explored the material science aspects of WAAM, and was instrumental to the successful production of the world’s first 3D printed and class-approved ship’s propeller in 2017.
From 2013 to 2017 I worked as a PhD researcher at the Materials innovation institute, Delft University of Technology (Delft, NL). My research focused on the development of novel heat treatments for automotive spring steels.
During my PhD, I was a Research Associate at the Colorado School of Mines (Golden, CO, US), and guest researcher at Gent University (Gent, BE) and Max Planck institute for iron research (Düsseldorf, DE).
In the years to come
In the future, I want to combine multiple materials in the same component using various technologies of 3D printing. This enables us to create new, high-quality and sustainable products. We only achieve this by pushing the boundaries of both materials science and of the manufacturing technologies used.
Education
I am teaching Materials Science 1 in BSc Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Manufacturing Processes & Design for AM for the Student Teams Minor, as well as 3D printing processes & use in the Master Industrial Design Engineering. I am also supervising master graduation projects in the fields of Metallurgy, Material Science and Additive Manufacturing. Sharing my passion about materials with the students and help create the next generation of critically thinking engineers is what I love.
Collaborations
National & International collaborations are key to my research. Therefore, I participate in multiple European research consortia and international professional associations. I collaborate with Delft University of Technology as Co-Promoter of a PhD candidate and work closely with Gent University and Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in the framework of the Grade2XL project. Finally, I also collaborate with the University of Santiago (Santiago, CL) on topics related with phase transformations in metals, and with the Technical University of Beijing on topics related to 3D printing of titanium.