NAMII Offers Funds Worth $4.5M for Additive Manufacturing Research

NAMII, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, driven by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), announced the awardees of its initial call for additive manufacturing (AM) applied research and development projects from NAMII members. NAMII will provide $4.5 million in funding toward these projects with the matching cost share from the awarded project teams totaling $5 million.

NCDMM and NAMII have selected seven projects that best integrate with the four NAMII focus areas of technology development, technology transition, advanced manufacturing enterprise and education/workforce outreach, the organization says.

The NAMII project call was focused on three technical topic areas: materials understanding and performance; qualification and certification and process capability and characterization/process control. Proposals submitted to NAMII were to address one or more technical topic areas, but had to address all evaluation criteria.

Additionally, since one of NAMII's key tenets as established by NCDMM is to promote and provide educational outreach and workforce development training, plans for these components had to be integrated into project proposals as well. For example, additive manufacturing curricula will be developed based on project results for high school pre-engineering courses, as well as community college, undergraduate, and graduate university classes.

Subject to the finalization of all contractual details and requirements, the approved NAMII projects are as follows:

Maturation of Fused Depositing Modeling (FDM) Component Manufacturing - Rapid Prototype + Manufacturing LLC (RP+M): Led by small business part producer, RP+M, in partnership with equipment manufacturers and large industry system integrators and the University of Dayton Research Institute, this project will provide the community with a deeper understanding of the properties and opportunities of the high-temperature polymer, ULTEM 9085.

Qualification of Additive Manufacturing Processes and Procedures for Repurposing and Rejuvenation of Tooling - Case Western Reserve University: Led by Case, in partnership with several additive manufacturers, die casters, computer modelers, and the North American Die Casting Association, this project will develop, evaluate, and qualify methods for repairing and repurposing tools and dies.

Sparse-Build Rapid Tooling by Fused Depositing Modeling (FDM) for Composite Manufacturing and Hydroforming - Missouri University of Science and Technology, and Fused Depositing Modeling (FDM) for Complex Composites Tooling - Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems: Two projects focusing on fused depositing modeling (FDM) are to be co-led developed in close collaboration by Missouri University of Science and Technology and Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, in partnership with other small and large companies and the Robert C. Byrd Institute's Composite Center of Excellence.

Maturation of High-Temperature Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) Technologies and Infrastructure - Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems: Led by Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, in partnership with several industry team members, this project will develop an SLS process for a lower-cost, high-temperature thermoplastic for making air and space vehicle components and other commercial applications.

Thermal Imaging for Process Monitoring and Control of Additive Manufacturing - Penn State University Center for Innovative Materials Processing through Direct Digital Deposition (CIMP 3D): Led by Penn State, in partnership with several industry and university team members, this project will expand the use of thermal imaging for process monitoring and control of electron beam direct manufacturing (EBDM) and laser engineered net shaping (LENS) additive manufacturing processes.

Rapid Qualification Methods for Powder Bed Direct Metal Additive Manufacturing Processes - Case Western Reserve University: Led by Case, in partnership with leading aerospace industry companies and other industry and university team members, this project will improve the industry's ability to understand and control microstructure and mechanical properties across EOS Laser Sintering and Arcam Electron Beam Melting (EBM) powder bed processes.

For more information, visit NAMII.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.