America Makes Announces 3 Project Calls Totaling $4.6 Million in Awards

America Makes has announced three new project calls which it says will accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) and offer a new way for the supply chain to engage with the Institute. Several actionable focus areas are aligned to each project call, including materials data, process monitoring and data management as well as education and workforce development.

“We are extremely excited about these project calls as they speak to the core of what America Makes does as an Institute — convenes, coordinates and catalyzes the AM community,” says John Wilczynski, America Makes executive director. “We feel that now is a good time to announce these calls to allow our members and stakeholders a chance to build and strengthen their project teams at our Members Meeting and Exchange, which takes place in August.”

These projects are meant to help America Makes advance its project portfolio in a way that is relevant to additive manufacturers and to AM as a whole. “The member-driven nature of the calls really showcases how the AM ecosystem directs the progression of additive technology,” says Brandon Ribic, America Makes technology director.

The training materials in this project are said to benefit the safety engineers and machinists, as well as the machines and the materials. “It will address a variety of needs for understanding safety for the life cycle of additive materials through the course of operations,” says Josh Cramer, America Makes EWD director. “It will address everything from procurement all the way through the process to recycling and disposal.”

Each project call has a unique set of topics and submission requirements. Further details on them can be found at America Makes.

The Open Project Call will leverage collaboration and perspectives from the existing America Makes membership, working groups and Roadmap Advisory Group. The goal for this project call is to create actionable focus areas to address the needs of the membership and its stakeholders.

The Rapid Innovation Call seeks to address immediate and readily actionable needs identified by America Makes members. It is said to give the Institute an agile framework to adapt to the evolving challenges of the supply chain via direct input from the membership.

The Generation of Additive Materials Allowables for Ti-6Al-4V or GAMAT focuses on a Laser Powder Feed Directed Energy Deposition (LPFDED) process-specific set of publicly available, statistically substantiated, bulk material property data with a corresponding material and process specification.