The National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) and America Makes are proud to announce the winners of the “Improvements in Manufacturing Productivity via Additive Capabilities and Techno-Economic Analysis (IMPACT)” directed 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 $11.7M.
The objective of the IMPACT project call is to demonstrate productivity and yield benefits for casting and forging manufacturing via additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, execute techno-economic analysis for metal powder AM, and to bridge component sourcing gaps with AM parts for casting and forging applications. Additionally, the project call was seeking innovative solutions in robotic AM process planning for continuous fiber-reinforced composite structures.
AM is of significant interest to the U.S. manufacturing base as the technology enables shorter lead times, mass customization, energy reduction, complex shapes, and production of parts on demand providing benefits to both new acquisitions and legacy systems. “This project call addresses the needs of a broad cross-section of our nation’s supply chain including the casting and forging industry,” stated Brandon Ribic, Ph.D., America Makes Technology Director. “The U.S. government considers metal casting and forgings to be one of the most critical supply chain items to our national defense and economic health. Thus, we see the need for casting and forging operations to seek advanced manufacturing capabilities that can upgrade production capacity, improve throughput, reduce cost, and take risks out of the supply chain equation. The awardees of this project call will work to shed light on the critical need for long-term strategic investments in AM to strengthen the U.S. supply chain.”