Dr Marco Castelli’s areas of expertise are machine integration, precision engineering and automation. He developed his skills in system integration and precision machine tool manufacturing during his career between Loxham Precision Ltd. and the Manufacturing Technology Centre, UK. Marco also has experience in ultra-precision optics manufacturing and optical figuring, which he gained through his work on single point diamond turning and plasma figuring of large optics. For this work, at Cranfield, he was awarded the McKeown price for best thesis in Precision Engineering and authored or co-authored publications in highly ranked journal and conference proceedings (e.g., Precision Engineering, EUSPEN, SPIE, Matador). Marco has recently joined I-Form and UCD under the management of Prof. F.Z. Fang. At I-Form, he is currently working on the development of post-processes for AM parts.
Research Interests (Lay Summary)
Marco has joined I-Form to support the development and integration of post-processing for additively manufactured parts, with particular focus on Cobalt Chrome and Titanium alloys for medical or aerospace applications. This will contribute to the existing portfolio of finishing processes by expanding the offering in terms of process types, finishing requirements and part geometries.
Technical Summary
Additive Manufacturing has gained incredible traction over the last decade due to its design flexibility. Sectors such as aerospace, medical, automotive and defence have successfully adopted the technology revolutionising their production. Nevertheless, additively manufactured parts inherently suffer from poor dimensional accuracy and, above all, from inadequate surface finish. Surface roughness is a key parameter to enable the part functionality of such components for service conditions. Properties such as tensile strength, friction coefficient, surface energy or hydrophilicity are strictly linked to the surface topography (finish and texture).
Currently, processes such as Micro Abrasive Jet Machining, Electropolishing and Solid Electrolyte finishing are available at I-Form. The aim of my post-processing development project is to expand the current finishing capability portfolio by enhancing the existing machines (e.g., by use of magnetorheological fluids or ultra-sonic assisted processes) and integrating new texturing capabilities (e.g., by addition of a laser). I am also involved in ACSM standards development for further enhancing manufacturing precision and accuracy.
Expertise
Additive Manufacturing Post Processing, Advanced Manufacturing, Hybrid Additive/Subtractive Manufacturing, Image Processing, Metrology, Plasma Treatment, Precision Manufacturing, Process Monitoring and Control, Sensor Development, Surface Engineering