America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute has awarded the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) US$10 million to research Air Force additive manufactured (AM) parts.
The award will be funded by the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate and Manufacturing and Industrial Base Technology division. America Makes will award US$8 million in AFRL funding with US$2.87 million in matching cost share from the award project team.
The project team includes 3D Systems Corporation, Boeing Company, Honeywell International Inc., Lockheed Martin, the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, Optomec, Pennsylvania State University, Raytheon, and the University of Northern Iowa.
The object of the project is to improve Air Force sustainment operations through the development, demonstration, and transition of additive manufacturing and related advanced manufacturing technologies. The program is aimed at improving the efficiency of rapid part replacement for legacy and other aircraft.
Strategic readiness
‘This project is significant on a number of levels,’ said America Makes director of operations Rob Gorham.0’ It marks the first funded project under our new, five-year cooperative agreement with AFRL. It is also an important area of research not only for the Air Force, but for the entire military and manufacturing community as well.’
‘This directed project opportunity represents the largest additive manufacturing focused effort on sustainment, maintenance, and repair technologies ever organized to date,’ claimed America Makes deputy director of technology development John Wilczynski. ‘Maintaining its fleet in a cost-efficient manner using advanced manufacturing technologies, including additive manufacturing, is critical to the strategic readiness of the Air Force today and into the future.’
This story is reprinted from material from America Makes, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
