Page 23 - 3DMP Spring 2022

FEATURE 3D
The AMNOW Challenge: Developing Digital
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...to instill confidence in metal additive-manufacturing process repeatability and predictability to overcome supply-chain and spare-parts challenges and support U.S. Army readiness.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Forbes contributing author Carolyn Schwaar, in a recent article titled, U.S. Military To 3D Print Its Way Out of Supply Chain Woes, notes:
“Keeping mission-critical supply chains running is nothing new to military opera- tions. When contracted manufacturing partners struggled to overcome pandem- ic-induced backlogs, raw materials are stuck in ports, and chip shortages halt production lines, the U.S. military turns to 3D printing to get essential parts and components.”
Schwaar goes on to describe how the U.S. Navy plans to pair suppliers chal- lenged to meet growing demand for sub- marine parts with 3D printing companies that can print metal parts around the clock to boost supply. She notes that in mid-February, the U.S. Department of Defense released its assessment of defense critical supply chains, recommending that the military expand its use of Additive Manufacturing (AM).
“The use of 3D printing in the U.S. mil-
itary is now so widespread,” Schwaar writes, “that the Department of Defense established an AM strategy last year that outlines the technologies and applications it intends to fund and employ within all of the branches. Its detailed 3D printing strategy calls for the military to use 3D printing to rapidly prototype and produce spare parts, and for use in the battlefield to produce ‘innovative solutions.’”
Along these same lines, then, is an ongoing U.S. Army project called AMNOW, a program emanating from the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM). It’s designed to support Army readiness by developing a digital AM supply chain and demonstrat- ing the applicability of artificial intelli- gence (AI) and data analytics to AM.
Under the theme, “The art of the pos- sible,” Phase 1 of the AMNOW project kicked off late 2019, funding over 100 dif- ferent projects leveraging 183 supply chain participants. Among the completed proj-
ects: a microclimate vest manifold printed from glass-reinforced nylon; radar wave- guides, from Al-10Si-Mg; and a high- strength-aluminum cargo-door link.
AMNOW Challenge:
LPBF of Type 316L Stainless Steel
The latest AMNOW project, called the AMNOW Challenge, focuses on laser pow- der-bed fusion (LPBF) of Type 316L stain- less steel. Specifically, the challenge posed to the research and development com- munity is to analyze process and property data from multiple LPBF builds, to identify trends, predict properties, and find anom- alies in manufacturing data.
“The goal for the AMNOW Program, which ends Sept. 30, 2022, is to whittle down the risk of implementation for U.S. Army applications across a range of 7 AM material and process combinations. L- PBF of Type 316L stainless steel is one of those combinations,” explains Kevin Slat- tery, who leads the AMNOW program
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