RICs Focus on Optimizing Materials Data to Improve Analytics and Advancing AM Qualification and Certification

YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO. America Makes announces five awardees of two recent Rapid Innovation Calls (RICs) worth $285K in funding from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Manufacturing, and Industrial Base Technology Division with $85.5K in matching funds from awarded project teams for total funding worth $370,500. The RICs seek to optimize materials data to foster analytics and advance additive manufacturing (AM) qualification and certification (Q&C).

"Our new RIC process elicited an overwhelming level of response and support from the America Makes membership community with impactful and well-thought-out proposals to address the critical needs of the supply chain," said Brandon D. Ribic, Ph.D., America Makes Technology Director. "It is exciting to see how these efforts will serve as an important piece of underpinning knowledge that will significantly enhance the supply chain's efforts to develop qualification and certification standards of AM materials, processes, and products."
Subject to the finalization of all contractual details and requirements, America Makes selected the following project teams as the RIC awardees in the following three topic domains:
Searchable AM Materials Database
• Led by 3Degrees, LLC, in collaboration with Senvol, Northrop Grumman Corporation, EOS, and Deloitte, this project team seeks to develop a searchable and scalable database built using 3Degrees' TRACEam software. Specifically designed to collate 3D printing data according to the workflows of the 3D printing process, the TRACEam software provides a comprehensive materials data management system for key production and AM technical data to improve data management and analytics of America Makes projects. The project team was awarded $50K in AFRL funding with $42.5K cost share for total funding of $92.5K.
• Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) will leverage data management tools developed by SwRI and the open-source data infrastructure of Materials Data Curation System (MDCS) from the Material Genome Initiative (MGI) Program led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to create a searchable and extendable XML-based database to systematically archive various types of data from America Makes projects. SwRI was awarded $50K in AFRL total funding.
Characterization of Metal AM Process Surface Features
• The Ohio State University (OSU) will investigate the capability of multiple in-process monitoring systems to characterize AM part surfaces by identifying gaps and highlighting which methods are best suited to quantify AM part surface feature characteristics. The goal of the project is to expand the industry understanding of metal AM and establish a quantitative data set to refine best practices, which will subsequently contribute to the development of qualification and certification (Q&C) standards. OSU was awarded $55K in AFRL funding.
Development of Test Artifacts for the Characterization of AM In-situ Process Monitoring Systems
• Led by Applied Optimization, Inc., in collaboration with Penn State University, this project team will use AM process simulations to develop test artifacts to provide a host of metrics for process monitoring systems to support the qualification and certification efforts of AM parts. The project goal is to increase AM fabrication and AM parts quality in real-time instead of quality analysis after fabrication. The project team was awarded $65K in AFRL funding with a $17K cost share for total funding of $82K.
• Baker Hughes Company will pursue a holistic approach to in-situ process monitoring system characterization by probing the system response under a comprehensive set of strategically designed anomalous conditions beyond geometric features to assist in defect detection. Baker Hughes was awarded $65K in AFRL funding with a $26K cost share for total funding of $91K.
More information about the RICs can be found at americamakes.us/project-calls.
America Makes members and government stakeholders are also encouraged to submit topic(s) for future RICs. As funding becomes available, America Makes will be announcing additional RICs.
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About America Makes
America Makes is the nation's leading public-private partnership for additive manufacturing (AM) technology and education. America Makes members from industry, academia, government, workforce and economic development organizations, work together to accelerate the adoption of AM and the nation's global manufacturing competitiveness. Founded in 2012 as the Department of Defense's national manufacturing innovation institute for AM and first of the Manufacturing USA network, America Makes is based in Youngstown, Ohio and managed by the not-for-profit National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM). Visit americamakes.us to learn more.

About Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
AFRL leads the discovery, development, and delivery of warfighting technologies for our air, space, and cyberspace forces. AFRL is headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, home to the Wright brothers and recognized as the birthplace of aviation. AFRL is comprised of Technology Directorates, Functional Directorates, 711th Human Performance Wing and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. For more information about AFRL, visit afresearchlab.com.