America Makes awards $1.3M for AM corrosion research project
America Makes, Youngstown, Ohio, USA, and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) have announced the winners of their Corrosion of Additive – Tested at Component Scale (CATACS) project call. The project call, announced in October 2025, is worth a total of $1.3 million, funded through the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Manufacturing Technology Office (OSD ManTech).
Project winners are:
- Topic 1: Corrosion of AM Components at Elevated Temperatures Team Lead: RTX Technology Research Center (RTRC)
- Topic 2: Corrosion of AM Components for Thermal Management
- Team Lead: Colorado School of Mines
- Project Team:
- Conflux Technology Pty
- Elementum 3D
- Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division (Corrosion and Coatings Engineering Branch)
- National Institute of Standards Technology (NIST)
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- The Ohio State University
- Ohio University
- Quintus Technologies
Project teams will report on their progress at the America Makes Technical Review and Exchange (TRX) and other industry events during the execution phase of the programme.
According to America Makes, Additive Manufacturing is of significant interest to the US Department of Defense as it enables rapid, customisable production. However, AM qualification and certification for metal parts remain a barrier due to a lack of widely accepted testing and processing methods. Material properties produced from Additive Manufacturing can differ from traditional manufacturing methods, leading to unique corrosion concerns. The CATACS programme aims to establish and validate a framework for evaluating AM metal part corrosion testing needs, focusing on representative testing at the component scale in two critical areas: high-temperature environments and thermal management systems.
By addressing these gaps, the CATACS programme aims to accelerate the adoption of Additive Manufacturing parts in high-performance defence systems by establishing a reliable corrosion testing framework that streamlines certification, strengthening manufacturing readiness, and scaling the defence industrial base.
