Prima Additive and Comau Develop Robotic Laser-Cladding System for Stellantis

Italian companies Prima Additive and Comau, in order to showcase the advantages of dual-layer laser cladding, have jointly developed a high-speed, fully automated brake-disc coating system for Stellantis. The two companies presented the first in a series of robotic-driven Rapid Coating Process cells during the Stellantis Factory Booster Day, held in Turin, Italy, in September 2024. By hard coating raw brake discs with resilient steel and composite materials, the solution is expected to enable Stellantis to significantly increase brake-disc durability and reduce emission pollution by as much as 80%, while keeping cycle times at a minimum. This, in turn, will allow the automaker to fully comply with the Euro 7 standard that requires a 27% reduction in particle emissions from brake discs by the end of 2026.

The robotic additive-manufacturing (AM) cells combine advanced laser systems, high-speed robotic arms, AM processes and safe powder management.  Comau’s robotic arms, along with the Siemens Sinumarik Run MyRobot CNC automation system, allow the software platform to directly control the arms without the need for external or embedded robot controllers. The cells also are equipped with adjustable grippers that can handle different sizes of discs, from cars to trucks, to address evolving production-mix scenarios. 

Stellantis expects to deploy the rapid-coating cells at its facility in Septfonds, France, by the end of 2024.

See also: Prima Power North America, Inc., COMAU LLC

Technologies: Additive Manufacturing, Pressroom Automation

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