America Makes Announces Open Project Call Worth $6.4M in Funding

Photo Credit: Getty Images

The National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) and America Makes have announced a new open project call funded by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Research and Engineering Manufacturing Technology Office (OSD R&E), and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) worth a total of $6.4 million. The number of anticipated awards and maximum funding will vary depending on the topic area being addressed.

The request for proposal (RFP) for this project call is separated into two documents:

1. Open Project Call 2023 includes Topics 1-6 worth $2 million in federal funding
2. Methods and Approaches for Sustainable Additive Manufacturing (AM) Operations are addressed in Topics 7-8 worth $5.2 million in funding.

The six topical areas for the Open Project Call 2023 are a direct result of the actions of the Institute and its membership. Efforts to establish these topics were initiated at AM Technology Roadmap workshops in 2021 and 2022, and focused on needs prioritized for the five topics: Design, Materials, Process, Value Chain and AM Genome.

Additionally, several workshops have been conducted by America Makes and its members to address the needs of the domestic AM supply chain for education and workforce development (EWD). Topic areas include:

• • Topic 1 – Design for Dimensional Inspection of Internal Features via In-Situ Process Monitoring
  • Topic 2 – Thermal Manipulations for Processing Improvements
  • Topic 3 – In-Process Sensor Calibration, Characterization Methods and Operating Limits to Yield Reliable Process Data
  • Topic 4 – Frameworks for Utilizing Process Monitoring In Conjunction with Ex-Situ Inspection for Qualification
  • Topic 5 – AM Process Prequalification
  • Topic 6 – “Should verus Could” Tool and Training

The topics that compose the Open Project Call 2023 utilize workshop outputs and member inputs, as well as working and advisory group subject matter expertise to identify and formulate topics for the benefit of the AM community. “This is a prime example of how member input is leading to opportunities to execute and advance AM technologies and education and workforce development for the benefit of U.S. manufacturing competitiveness,” says Brandon Ribic, technology director at America Makes.