
AM@Å - research
Research projects on additive manufact at the faculty of science and technology, Uppsala university
AM research at Ångström
At the Faculty of science and technology at Uppsala university, there are a number of different research projects running where additive manufacturing is a major part of the research theme.
These projects are mainly conductedd at the departments of Chemistry - Ångström, Materials science, and Physics, and range from materials design to devlopment of new cutting edge AM equipment. Also the applications have a wide range: from life sciences to the metal industry.
The research projects vary a lot in size, from small projects with no external funding to large competence centres with many nodes, collaborators, and extensive external funding.
Most of our research publications can be found through the university's publication database Diva, using the key words "additive manufacturing".
No longer active projects are listed at the bottom of this page
- AM4Life – Additive Manufacturing for life sciences
- FRAMGRAF II
- AM of Mg-based alloys for biomedical applications
- Tailored Mg-based alloys for bone replacement
- AM of magnetic materials for electrical machines
- Combinatorial design of soft mangetic metallic glasses
- Defect engineering in architectured materials
- AM – development of processes and materials
- AM of implant bioceramics
- AM printed alloys seen with neutron scattering
- Filament-based AM of metal composites
- 3D printed supercapacitors
- Development of a 3D nanoprinter
- Development of EHD printing
- Additive manufacturing of medications
- Prototyping for spectroscopy and catalysis
AM4Life – Additive manufacturing for the Life Sciences

Funding | Vinnova Competence Centre, 34 Mkr over 5 years (total budget 98 Mkr) |
Principal investigator(s) | Cecilia Persson et al. |
Collaboration partner(s) | |
Universities | Uppsala University (coordinator), KTH - Royal Institute of Technology, SLU - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Universidade do Minho |
Research Institutes | Swerim, RISE |
Industry | Cytiva, OssDsign, Graphmatech, Disruptive Materials, Cellink, ÅF, Erasteel, Exmet, Resorbable Devices, VBN Components, AddNorth |
Public sector | Uppsala Region incl. Akademiska Hospital and the Unit for Sustainable Development at the Regional Office, Medical Products Agency, Yrkeshögskolan Sandviken. |
Additive Manufacturing for the Life Sciences is a VINNOVA Competence Centre that gathers more than 20 dynamic partners in academia, industry and the public sector to support competence development in Additive Manufacturing for the Life Sciences. The centre is funded by academia, industry and VINNOVA in equal parts, with a total budget of approx. 100 MSEK. It will run for 5 years in a first instance, between 2020-2024, and engage many people with a passion for 3D-printing and improving people’s lives.
Within the centre, collaborative research projects will be run through masters and PhD students, as well as dedicated research engineers. Relevant courses and seminars will be held, and the excellent innovation system in Uppsala will be involved to support the implementation of ideas from the centre to become sustainable innovations.
Current research themes within the centre include Equipment and process development, Bioprocess materials, Implants, Bioprinting, Medication, Implementation
FRAMGRAF II
Funding | Vinnova 2.3 MSEK during 2021-2022 |
Principal investigator(s) | Ulf Jansson (at UU), project managed by Marta-Lena Antti (at LTU) |
Collaboration partner(s) |
Luleå University of Technology, Amexci, Carpenter Additive, GE Additive, Graphmatech, Mid Sweden University |
FRAMGRAF II has the goal to build on the knowledge from a previous feasibility study and take the promising results further and manufacture metal matrix composites of graphene and stainless steel (SS316L) with improved mechanical and tribological properties. Components produced in this way can be designed with the flexibility allowed by additive manufacturing while benefiting from the improved properties achieved by the addition of graphene. SS316L is a widely used alloy and the most evaluated for powder bed technology, which opens up for a faster way to market for components made with this technology. A selected end-user component will be manufactured with a laser powder bed and the tribological properties will be evaluated in a tribometer. The material will be characterized to increase the understanding of the graph's stability during production and the graph's interaction with the microstructure of the built material. The functionalized graphene, "GraphCot", invented by Graphmatech AB, will be coated on the SS316L powder particles with a unique coating technology developed by Graphmatech before printing with laser and powder bed. The consortium includes representatives from both the AM sector and the graphene production sector. The possibility of combining AM with graphene opens up for a large number of applications where high performance is needed, such as the aerospace industry, orthopedic manufacturing and the tool and energy sectors. The technology will be taken further for commercialization via the end users at Amexci AB and Graphmatech AB.

Additive manufacturing of magnesium-based alloys for biomedical applications
Funding | SwedNess research school for neutron scattering (SSF) 2020-2026 |
Principal investigator(s) | Cecilia Persson |
Collaboration partner(s) | Swerim |
The overall purpose of the work is to provide new knowledge on the possibilities and limitations of 3D-printable magnesium-based alloys containing only biocompatible elements. This project aim is to gain an in-depth understanding of microstructure formation by extensive characterization of novel alloys at all relevant length scales, as well as an understanding of the resulting mechanical properties.
Tailored Magnesium-based Alloys for Bone Replacement - Metallic glass-forming composites enabled by additive manufacturing
Funding | VR 2022-2025 |
Principal investigator(s) | Cecilia Persson |
Collaboration partner(s) | Malmö universitet |
Additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D-printing, has enabled production of complex structures, and in orthopaedics, the provision of patient-specific implants. Here, satisfactory solutions have been found for permanent implant solutions, through e.g. titanium alloys. However, to enable in situ bone recreation, an initially load-bearing but degradable material is needed. Magnesium alloys are one of, if not the, most promising material to this end, but AM of biocompatible Mg alloys is challenging. We have demonstrated the possibility to additively manufacture an alloy previously found suitable for orthopaedic use when produced with a traditional method. However, the AM process gives raise to microstructures that are detrimental to the corrosive properties of the material, crucial to its function in the body. In this project, we will develop amorphous-matrix Mg alloys with improved corrosion resistance through laser powder bed fusion for the first time. High-resolution synchrotron X-ray analysis and neutron scattering will be used in combination with numerical model development to elucidate microstructural formation mechanisms and to develop novel alloys. The developed materials will be validated in biological systems. The ultimate goal is to achieve Mg alloys adequate for orthopaedic use, with the immense benefits of restoring the patient’s own tissue and eliminating implant-associated risks of infection, potentially sparing millions of lives.
High-throughput combinatorial design of soft magnetic metallic glasses for additive manufacturing
Funding | Energimyndigheten 2020-2024 (5 MSEK) |
Principal investigator(s) | Petra Jönsson, Gabriella Andersson, Martin Sahlberg |
Collaboration partner(s) | Exmet |
In the electrical energy system, soft magnetic materials are essential for the functionality of e.g. generators, transformers, and electrical motors. Electrosteel is the material dominating the market today and thin plates are stacked together to build the soft magnetic components. Additive manufacturing can overcome the limitations in design imposed by stacking thin plates and bring new possibilities for energy and material-efficient designs. In addition, additive manufacturing is, due to the fast heating and cooling rates, a suitable technique to produce iron-based glassy metals in any shape. Iron-based glassy metals are among the soft-magnetic materials, known today, that have the best potential to increase the energy efficiency of e.g. electrical motors.
The specific aim of this project is to find suitable chemical compositions of metallic glasses that can be used in AM production to fabricate parts with excellent electromagnetic functionality and good mechanical properties. Amorphous metal glasses typically contain at least three different chemical elements. Combinatorial co-sputtering targets will be used to efficiently produce many thin film samples of varying chemical compositions on a wafer. High-throughput characterization of structural and magnetic properties will be performed to systematically explore and efficiently scan for the chemical composition with the optimal physical properties.
Additive manufacturing of magnetic materials for energy efficient electrical machines
Funding | Carl Trygger foundation 2022-2023 (1 MSEK) |
Principal investigator(s) | Petra Jönsson |
Collaboration partner(s) |
The aim of the project is to enable the production of functional magnetic components using additive manufacturing techniques. Soft magnetic high silicon Fe-Si steel and Fe-based glassy metals will be investigated. A specific goal is to produce the Fe-based materials using additive manufacturing techniques and develop printing strategies for controlling the local microstructure and the magnetic properties.
Defect engineering in architectured materials

Funding: VR starting grant 2019-2022
Principal investigator: Mahmoud Mousavi
Descritpion: A sustainable growth can benefit from including both perfection and imperfection in the design parameters of future materials. In this context, the traditional viewpoint of always aiming for perfect materials is changing. In this project, we implement the idea of defect engineering in architectured materials.
Additive manufacturing – development of processes and materials
Funding | SSF 32 MSEK during 2016-2020 |
Principal investigator(s) | Ulf Jansson, Urban Wiklund, Björgvin Hjörvarsson |
Collaboration partner(s) | Luleå University of Technology (LTU) and Malmö University (MAU) Sandvik Additive and Exmet AB |
The project aims to bridge the gap between fundamental science and production in additive manufacturing (AM). We use a combination of experimental and computational methods to reach a more fundamental understanding of the relationship between process parameters, microstructure and properties. We use alloys available on the market today and also develop new alloys for future use in AM. The principal ambition of the project is to develop and apply new processes and models to predict and build AM components with specific microstructures and properties, which can be utilised in generic industrial production.
The project is organized into three materials-based work packages (WPs).
They are: (i) conventional alloys (Ni-based alloys and steels), (ii) amorphous alloys and (iii) high entropy alloys.

Additive manufacturing of implant bioceramics

Funding | Faculty funding |
Principal investigator(s) | Wei Xia |
Insufficient alveolar ridge volume in vertical dimension remains a challenging obstacle for successful dental implant treatment, with current augmentation solutions still experiencing high failure rates. The use of patient-specific graft with precisely customized structure according to the 3D shape of the patient’s bone defects may improve the vascularization and the ultimate rehabilitation of alveolar ridge deficiency. To this end, in this project, we are aiming at developing a newly customized bioceramic (or composite) grafts for reliable vertical alveolar ridge augmentation.
3D-printed alloys revealed: structure-property relations in AM seen with neutron scattering
Funding | SwedNess research school for neutron scattering (SSF) |
Principal investigator(s) | Martin Sahlberg |
Collaboration partner(s) | Premysl Beran, European Spallation Source |
The project aims at providing a better understanding of the relationship between structure and properties in additive manufacturing (AM). The project investigates alloys from the Inconel family, high entropy alloys and amorphous metals, among other novel alloys, using characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscopy and specially, the combination of neutron and X-ray diffraction. Neutron scattering is an ideal characterization technique to study AM components, as parts can be probed deeper than with other methods and in a non-destructive manner. Neutron-based measurements are conducted with several techniques: diffraction, atomic pair density correlation function (to investigate local structural arrangements), polarized neutrons (to study order/disorder) and imaging (to investigate microstructure and porosity).
Filament-based AM of metal composites

Funding | |
Principal investigator(s) | Ulf Jansson, Mamoun Taher |
Collaboration partner(s) | Graphmatech AB and Add North AB |
This project aims to develop a filament-based AM-process to print metal-containing composite structures. Initially, we mix a polymer such as PLA (polylactic acid) with a metal-containing component. The mixture is compounded into a polymer/metal precursor, which is added to an extruder giving a composite filament. The produced filament will then be used to form structures in a 3D printer. We use a commercially available printer modified to meet our requirements. The major challenge of this project lies in the optimization of the filament and the printing parameters to build a component with specific properties. For example, we are currently investigating the thermal conductivity and magnetic properties of Cu and Fe-containing structures.
3D printed supercapacitors
Funding | Faculty funding, and Swedish Research Council grant 2019-2022 (3 812 kkr) |
Principal investigator(s) | Stefan Johansson |
Collaboration partner(s) | Helena Grennberg, Organic chemistry, UU |
Supercapacitors (SCs) are energy storage components that typically are used when there is a need to have fast charging and discharging. In particular the double layer SCs are expected to have very long lifetime and to be environmental friendly while the energy density of commercial components are much less than Li-ion batteries. Still, there are a few scientific articles that indicate that the energy density of SCs could be as high, or higher, than commercial batteries.Our project is focused on investigating the necessary design of electrodes to achieve energy density similar to batteries by 3D-nanoprinting graphene and nanoparticle spacers.
Development of a 3D nanoprinter
Funding | Carl Tryggers Stiftelse 2020-2021 (493 kkr) |
Principal investigator(s) | Stefan Johansson |
There are few printing techniques that gives sub-µm resolution and structures. Essentially none of the existing techniques allows to print various materials. In several cases there is a need for at least two different materials, e.g. graphene and Au nanoparticles for supercapacitors, and this project aims at developing the necessary printer. A nm-resolution stage will be combined with printheads allowing sub-µm printing of various materials. Also techniques to increase printing speed will be implemented in the equipment.
Development of EHD printing
Funding | Faculty funding |
Principal investigator(s) | Stefan Johansson |
Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing is similar to electrospinning techniques, using a high electric field to eject a fibre from a liquid material out of a nozzle, with the difference that printing is typically done with less than 1 mm distance between nozzle and substrate. A main problem with EHD printing is that the fibre deflects undesirably due to e.g. charging of the substrate and other effect that alter the electric field between nozzle and substrate. We are looking at techniques to electrostatically steer the fibre deflection to be able to print e.g. solid bodies with µm and sub-µm resolution.

Additive manufacturing of medications
Funding | The Olle Engkvist Foundation |
Principal investigator(s) | Jonas Lindh |
Collaboration partner(s) | Christel Bergström, Dept. of Pharmacy, UU Gustaf Ljungman, Gunnar Liminga and Mattias Paulsson, Uppsala Academic Hospital |
In the project we aim to develop additive manufacturing methods for production of medications with the long term goal of producing medications locally in hospitals. Current efforts are directed towards developing suitable manufacturing techniques and also to find suitable excipients and drug formulations.
Prototyping for spectroscopy and catalysis
Funding | KAW and VR |
Principal investigator(s) | Jacinto Sa, Leif Hammarström |
Collaboration partner(s) |
Ultrafast spectroscopy is a powerful tool to look at processes in real-time. However, the increasing complexity fo systems and reactions demand the use of bespoken and tailored spectroscopic cells, which are not commercial commonly available. We have been developing and prototyping these cells with 3D printing, enabling us to perform studies both in real-time and under working conditions. The applications include photocatalytic processes (e.g. artificial photosynthesis and photo-redox catalysis) and solar cells.
Previous projects
In the list to the right and below you find research projects related to additive manufacturing conducted at the Faculty of science and technology at Uppsala university, which no longer are active.
Surface modification for new AM materials
Funding | Vinnova mobility grant (186 kkr) and ÅForsk grant (461 kkr) |
Principal investigator(s) | Erik Lewin |
Collaboration partner(s) | Sandvik additive |
The project is a collaboration between academia and industry, which aims at developing new methods to enhance the functionality of metallic materials from additive manufacturing (“3D-printing”). Surface modifications are used to modify the powders used in additive manufacturing, either in order to modify and enhance the printed material, or to change powder properties to optimize the printing process.
