Motivated by the desire to combine the advantages of two manufacturing concepts, namely Additive Manufacturing and sheet metal forming, the concept of hybrid processes emerged. Laser Beam Melting process with its characteristic layer by layer fabrication methodology has already been proved to be successful in fabricating fully dense 3D structures with micro sized Ti-6Al-4V powder. The presented research focuses on direct fabrication of Ti-6Al-4V Additive Structures on a thin pre-formed Ti-6Al-4V sheet metal substrate. In the state of the art Laser Beam Melting process, fabrication of solid structures is done on a support structure attached to a thick conventionally manufactured base plate. The state of the art process also uses a 200°C pre-heating of the fabrication platform in order to reduce the effect of heat induced stresses on the fabricated structures. Within the hybrid fabrication concept, 3D structures are directly fabricated on a thin sheet metal and the thermodynamic conditions are significantly different in comparison to the conventional process. The research aims at understanding the fundamental aspects of the interaction between the formed sheet metal and additive structure determines the corresponding mechanical characteristics. The interaction process during the fabrication exposes the alloy locally to non-optimum thermal cycles and the research therefore aims to understand the various influencing factors involved during the fabrication process. The system technology modifications required to achieve the aimed fabrication are also discussed in the presented research.

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Rare Earth Elements (REEs: Sc, Y, La-Lu) are found in numerous future-oriented applications such as in magnets for green technologies and in fluorescing materials. A shortage of resources is already forecast for diverse REEs, which suggests it may be necessary to recycle these elements and optimize technologies. Both aspects will be addressed in this paper. Model experiments with regards to damage monitoring using [Eu(DBM) 4 TEA] and the recycling of neodymium(III) sulfate in hard disk magnets will also be presented. These are experiments for teachers and students who already have advanced experimental experience, such as trainees at vocational schools.

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