From humble beginnings as a small room tucked away on campus, the University of Waterloo’s Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing (MSAM) Lab opened its doors today to a new facility that will serve as a home for the university’s next-generation metal 3D-printing research.
Launched in 2017, Waterloo’s MSAM Lab has become the largest metal additive manufacturing (AM) academic facility in Canada and is one of the most comprehensive facilities of its kind in the world.
The new facility’s home will be located in Kitchener, Ont.’s Catalyst137 facility and contain more than $25 million worth of state-of-the-art equipment like a quad-laser powder bed fusion machine. MSAM’s focus on additive manufacturing provides a more efficient and sustainable way to prototype and manufacture a range of products across a myriad of sectors that include aerospace, healthcare and automotive.
Dr. Ehsan Toyserkani, founder of the MSAM Lab as well as a mechanical and mechatronics engineering professor at the University of Waterloo, said that the new MSAM Lab facility will help students and faculty research create much-needed disruptions in metal additive manufacturing for the greater good of society.
“Our primary objective is to connect our lab’s solutions to reliable partners to help influence high-impact product and process improvements within industry,” he said.
Go to Expanding Waterloo’s additive manufacturing prowess for the full story.
(From L-R) Dr. Mihaela Vlasea, MSAM’s co-director and an associate professor of mechanical and mechatronics and Dr. Ehsan Toyserkani, MSAM’s director of research are congratulated by Berry Vrbanovic, Mayor of Kitchener. Photo by: Erica Clement-Goudy