NAMII awarding $9M to 15 Additive Manufacturing projects

America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) in the USA, recently announced the results of its second call for Additive Manufacturing (AM) applied research and development projects from its members. Driven by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), America Makes will provide $9 million in funding toward these 15 projects with $10.3 million in matching cost share from the awarded project teams for total funding worth $19.3 million.

America Makes Director and NCDMM Vice President Ed Morris stated, “We were very pleased by the quality of the projects proposed by our members for this second round of additive manufacturing R&D projects being launched, which of course made the final selection process even more challenging. Combined with the projects underway from our first project call, we will soon have nearly $30 million of public and private funds invested in advancing the state-of-the-art in additive manufacturing in the United States.”

The Institute’s second project call, which was released on 30 August 2013, was focused on AM materials; process and equipment; qualification and certification; and knowledgebase development-each with subset focus areas. Proposals could address one or more technical topic areas, but had to address all evaluation criteria.

Subject to the finalisation of all contractual details and requirements, the 15 selected America Makes projects are as follows:

• In-Process Quality Assurance (IPQA) for Laser Powder Bed Production of Aerospace Components.
  
  Led by General Electric Aviation in partnership with Aerojet Rocketdyne; B6 Sigma, Inc.; Burke E. Porter Machinery Company; Honeywell Aerospace; Montana Tech of The University of Montana; and TechSolve, Inc.
• Developing Topology Optimization Tools that Enable Efficient Design of AM Cellular Structures.
  
  Led by University of Pittsburgh in partnership with Acutec Precision Machining Inc.; Alcoa Inc.; ANSYS, Inc.; and ExOne
• AM of Biomedical Devices from Bioresorbable Metallic Alloys for Medical Applications.
  
  Led by McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in partnership with ExOne and Magnesium Elektron Powders
• Refining Microstructure of AM Materials to Improve Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI)
  
  Led by EWI in partnership with Lockheed Martin and Sciaky, Inc.
• Development of Distortion Prediction and Compensation Methods for Metal Powder-Bed AM.
  
  Led by GE Global Research in partnership with 3DSim, Inc.; CDI Corporation; Honeywell Aerospace; Pan Computing LLC; Penn State
• Development of a Low-Cost Lens® Engine
  
  Led by Optomec in partnership with Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control; MachMotion; TechSolve, Inc.; and US Army Benet Laboratories
• Development of Knowledgebase of Deposition Parameters for Ti-6Al-4V and IN718.
  
  Led by Optomec (Applied Optimization Inc.)
• Automatic Finishing of Metal AM Parts to Achieve Required Tolerances & Surface Finishes.
  
  Led by North Carolina State University in partnership with Advanced Machining; CalRAM Inc.; FineLine Prototyping, Inc.; Iowa State University; John Deere; Kennametal Inc.; and Productivity Inc.
• Electron Beam Melted Ti-6Al-4V AM Demonstration and Allowables Development
  
  Led by Northrop Grumman in partnership with CalRAM Inc.; Concurrent Technologies Corporation; General Electric; and Robert C. Byrd Institute
• 3D Printing Multi-Functionality: AM for Aerospace Applications
  
  Led by University of Texas – El Paso in partnership with Lockheed Martin; Northrop Grumman Corporation; rp+m, Inc.; Stratasys, Ltd.; The University of New Mexico; and Youngstown State University
• Metal Alloys and Novel Ultra-Low-Cost 3D Weld Printing Platform for Rapid Prototyping and Production
  
  Led by Michigan Technological University in partnership with Aleph Objects, Inc.; ASM International; Miller/ITW; ThermoAnalytics, Inc.; and The Timken Company
• Accelerated Adoption of AM Technology in the American Foundry Industry
  
  Led by Youngstown Business Incubator in partnership with American Foundry Society; ExOne; Humtown Products; Janney Capital Markets; the University of Northern Iowa; and Youngstown State University
• A Database Relating Powder Properties to Process Outcomes for Direct Metal AM
  
  Led by Carnegie Mellon University in partnership with AMETEK Specialty Metal Products; ATI Powder Metals; CalRAM Inc.; Carpenter Powder Products Inc.; FineLine Prototyping, Inc.; Medical Modeling Corporation; North Carolina State University; Oxford Performance Materials; Pratt & Whitney; Robert C. Byrd Institute; TE Connectivity Ltd.; United Technologies Research Center; and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
• High-Throughput Functional Material Deposition Using a Laser Hot Wire Process.
  
  Led by Case Western Reserve University in partnership with Aquilex Corporate Technology Center (AZZ, Inc.); Lincoln Electric Company; rp+m, Inc.; and RTI International Metals
• Optimization of Parallel Consolidation Method for Industrial Additive Manufacturing
  
  Led by Stony Creek Labs in partnership with Grid Logic; Michigan Economic Development Corporation; MSC; Oakland University; and Raytheon Missile Systems

www.americamakes.us