Research Overview

I-Form works in close collaboration with our industry partners to ensure that our research is relevant, applicable and impactful, delivering a step-change in competitiveness for Irish manufacturing.

Our research is primarily focussed on materials processing, and the application of digital technologies to better develop, model and control the process. Materials processing can refer to any process that takes raw material A and, through a series of steps, transforms that material into end product B.

One example of I-Form’s research focus areas is additive manufacturing (outside the manufacturing industry, this process is commonly known as 3D printing). This materials processing technology has the potential to significantly disrupt traditional manufacturing, and to create new markets and individualised products not previously possible, in areas such as medical devices, aerospace and pharmaceutical manufacturing. To achieve the larger scale and broader application of this evolving technology, its cost structures need to be significantly reduced. Through introducing digital solutions and bringing process understanding to a new level, manufacturers will be able to realise the promise of reduced cycle time, less waste and increased quality in production.

I-Form Research Programme Structure

The I-Form research programme is structured to operate under a ‘hub and spoke’ model. Under this model the ‘hub’ comprises of Platform research, which represents the more basic or fundamental research activities of the Centre. Platform research is focused on advancing the state-of-the-art and developing new knowledge, methods, models, techniques and results that are common to a number of industry challenges and projects. The Spokes focus on industry engagement projects that leverage aspects of the core research. I-Form’s Platform themes coalesce around three fundamental research areas as illustrated below. The demonstrator technology for the Platform research in I-Form is Additive Manufacturing

Platform 1 - Process Development: Using advanced sensors to collect large volumes of experimental data, helping uncover how processing conditions and material properties affect the final product. The research includes the evaluation of novel metrology and characterisation techniques, as well as post-processing considerations, for additive manufacturing processes.

Platform 2 - Product and Process Modelling: Building smarter, more accurate models of manufacturing processes and product performance by combining physics-based simulations with new data and AI-driven analysis. A key output from this Platform is the development and validation of tools for process-structure-property relationships.

Platform 3 - AI for Advanced Manufacturing: Developing cutting-edge AI tools to interpret complex data, improve predictive models, and enable intelligent, automated process control. Amongst the outputs are a deeper process understanding to enable faster, more efficient process development and optimisation.

Welcome to I-Form: Advancing Manufacturing Through Research

Research Overview

I-Form Research Programme Structure