America Makes announces innovation calls for advancing materials data and certification in AM
January 22, 2021
America Makes, Youngstown, Ohio, USA, has announced two new Rapid Innovation Calls (RICs) worth $100K in total funding from the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Manufacturing and Industrial Base Technology Division to optimise Additive Manufacturing materials data and accelerate qualification/certification efforts within the supply chain.
“Our RIC project model provides a vehicle to leverage direct and actionable input from our membership community, enabling the Institute to pivot quickly to the evolving challenges of the supply chain and address critical needs within our industry,” stated Brandon D Ribic, PhD, America Makes Technology Director. “Both of today’s RIC topics address distinct areas focused on leveraging data to facilitate a more expansive and broader understanding of AM materials, processes, and qualification, which will lead to the creation of critical reference standards for AM products.”
The two new RICs include:
Member Driven RIC
For this Member Driven RIC, the technical focus is the development of a searchable and scalable AM materials database capable of compiling mechanical/physical property data, as well as related pedigree information, from more than seventy-five America Makes projects.
The goal is to improve data management and analytics. The database will equip the AM design community with trusted and validated material datasets and pedigree information. There is no cost share requirement for this project call.
Government Driven RIC
For this Government Driven RIC, the technical focus was directed by the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) to continue to build upon previous efforts of developing and demonstrating reference materials and resources for process monitoring instrumentation widely used in commercial AM metal systems.
The aim is to create a body of documentation to improve performance, benchmarking, and qualification/certification of AM products. This call has a cost-share requirement of 25%.
The submission deadline for the RICs is February 8, 2021. Further information and eligibility requirements are available via the American Makes website.
