Additive manufacturing is considered as one of the most powerful technologies ever invented, greatly changing design and production in the new Industry 4.0. However, due to the complex interplay of 3D printing techniques and materials, multimaterial printing where multiple phases or compounds are present might be affected by agglomeration or phase-separation phenomena at nano- to meso-scale, 3D-Phys will deploy advanced modelling of processes/materials and microfabrication to face this challenge, rationalizing the properties of 3D-printed compounds in a new way and enabling novel devices based on them. 

It will boost computational modelling of printing techniques through atomistic simulation algorithms and multiscale Lattice Boltzmann/Immersed Boundary methods, in synergy with multimaterial writing experiments. New printed waveguides will be built, through nanocomposites thoroughly investigated in their optical properties and structure.

Gathering together a focused consortium of fully complementary units, a well-defined methodology is proposed for studying 3D printed materials, through objectives highly relevant to Horizon 2020 domains and the formation of a team of young, highly-trained researchers.

m.lauricella@iac.cnr.it