Engineers are printing the metal cores and coils of electric motors in three dimensions, layer by layer, to create shapes that cannot be made by conventional casting or winding. Today’s electric motors are built from stamped steel laminations and copper wire coils—a design that has changed little in a century. This geometry limits how much power a motor can produce for its size and forces manufacturers to use rare-earth magnets, whose supply chains are fragile. The project aims to use additive manufacturing to print multi-material rotors and 3D-structured conductors, combining soft magnetic and non-magnetic materials in one component. This freedom of shape could increase power and torque density while cutting copper and iron losses. If successful, the work would allow smaller, lighter, more efficient motors for electric vehicles and aircraft, directly reducing CO₂ emissions. It would also reduce dependence on rare-earth magnets, addressing raw-material shortages. The consortium includes both universities and industry partners, and the project will train a new generation of engineers who understand both additive manufacturing and electrical machine design—accelerating the technology’s move from lab to factory floor.
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The goal of our project is to establish a consortium of renowned universities and industry partners in the field of electrical machines and additive manufacturing (AM) for a comprehensive study and solid development of new generation of electrical machines for key applications. In detail we will integrate different necessary steps for realizing our goal into an industry-doctoral network. These include multi-material (soft magnetic and non-magnetic materials) rotor, 3D-structured AM conductors, multi-material (soft magnetic and permanent magnet material) and multi-physical study of additive manufactured EMs. the objectives of our projects are: a) conceiving new concepts of electrical machines that benefit from the 3D geometrical freedom of AM, b) studying the potential and laying the foundations of multi-material additive manufacturing to enhance the EM performance, concretely increasing the power density, increasing the torque density, reducing the copper losses, reducing the iron losses, reducing the harmonic effects, c) establishing a network for educating qualified engineers with deep knowledge on both additive manufacturing processes and electrical machines to accelerate the industrial application of this technology, d) establishing a founded knowledge-based group of experts from academic and industry to represent a solid European innovation and to maintain the pioneering role of the EU in this field, e) reaching the necessary breaking-through technology in electrical machines to accelerate the technological development in related applications, f) reducing the stringent material requirements, particularly focusing on rare-earth magnets, in the light of raw materials shortages. We want to use AM to solve the current technological obstacles regarding electrical machines to accelerate the developing of electrical drives in areas such as automotive and aviation with direct impact on CO2 reduction.
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