America Makes Names Winners of Air Force Project Call Totaling $850,000
Awardees are tasked with identifying the current, emerging and future state of additive manufacturing (AM) process qualification, prioritizing AM machine qualification to quantitatively validate acceptable AM operations.
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America Makes (the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute) and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) have selected the winners of the $850,000 Additive Manufacturing Process Prequalification Open Project Call funded by the Department of the Air Force (DAF) ManTech Office.
America Makes is the nation’s leading public-private partnership for additive manufacturing (AM) technology and education. Partnership members from industry, academia, government, and workforce and economic development organizations work together to accelerate the adoption of AM and the nation’s global manufacturing competitiveness.
The groups responsible for the project call say that AM technologies offer a range of benefits, including unique product geometries, fewer tooling requirements and relatively shorter lead times in comparison to other manufacturing methods. Also, the industrialization of AM represents an opportunity to convert demonstrated manufacturing capability into capable manufacturing capacity.
In alignment with the America Makes Additive Manufacturing Technology Roadmap, awardees are called on to lead the charge to identify the current, emerging and future state of AM process qualification, prioritizing AM machine qualification to quantitatively validate acceptable AM operations.
Below is the list of award winners and related topic areas for AM Process Prequalifications:
Project 1: AM Process Prequalification
- Team Lead: Applied Optimization Inc.
- Project Team: ASTM International, Lockheed Martin Corp.
Project 2: Sensor-Based Approaches to LPBF Machine Prequalification
- Team Lead: University of Dayton Research Institute
- Project Team: Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., The Ohio State University Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence, Zeiss Industrial Quality Solutions
Project 3: Build Area Qualification Through Statistical Modeling of Melt Pool and Defect Distribution
- Team Lead: Sentient Science
- Project Team: Purdue University
Project teams will report on their progress at the America Makes Technical Review and Exchange and other industry events during the execution phase of the program,
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