Industry News

The Office of Naval Research, through its Quality Metal Additive Manufacturing program, has awarded Concurrent Technologies Corp. (CTC) a $2.6 million, two-year contract to supply technology solutions for ensuring the manufacturability of metallic parts from additive manufacturing (AM) machines. This could move the U.S. Navy closer to being able to build parts for critical naval applications, bolstering fleet readiness. CTC also anticipates a two-year option for $3.8 million that will further demonstrate AM.

According to the U.S. Navy, AM cuts time and costs associated with deploying qualified, certified AM metallic components for Naval air, sea, and ground platforms. The Navy would like to build parts onboard ships at sea for aircraft to avoid the challenge of storing components and large parts on ships and aircraft. It also is interested in shortening the acquisition timeline, broadening the industrial supply base, and having the ability to produce parts on demand at Fleet Readiness Centers (FRCs).

According to the Office of Naval Research, “Aging Naval platforms are being challenged by dwindling traditional sources of supply, which reduces readiness and causes unacceptable logistical delays. In response to this need, the Naval Warfare Centers, maintenance depots, and FRCs plan to use additive manufacturing to produce small quantities of out-of-production or long lead-time metallic components.”

Ken Sabo, senior director of additive manufacturing and materials for CTC, says the project team, which includes CTC, SLM Solutions N.A., MSC Software, MRL Materials Resources LLC, the University of Pittsburgh and America Makes, will develop and demonstrate a suite of AM software and hardware technologies required to support the rapid qualification of critical metallic components at a reduced cost.

“Microstructure-property evolution and its in-process control are not well established for additive manufacturing of metallic parts compared to traditional metal processing,” Sabo says. “Our goal is to address these gaps and ensure that parts produced throughout the U.S. Navy consistently perform as intended. The team will produce metal parts using laser powder-bed fusion to develop and validate a proposed framework.”

For more, www.ctc.com.