America Makes funds Colorado School of Mines in AM-CPC project
June 2, 2023
America Makes, Youngstown, Ohio, USA, has announced that the Colorado School of Mines (CSOM) has been awarded $250,000 in funding by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) via the recent Methods for AM Cross-Platform Consistency (AM-CPC) project call. The project call was a collaboration between NIST, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), and America Makes to advance measurement science research for the reproducibility of Additive Manufacturing processes.
Proposals for this project call were expected to outline neutral manufacturing plans to foster an understanding of consistency for multiple metal Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) Additive Manufacturing machines, help accelerate AM process qualification, and deliver a measurement method specification that may be used for analysing various PBF-LB equipment.
Led by CSOM and Associate Professor Dr Joy Gockel. the project team will consist of 3D Systems, Aconity 3C AddUP, EOS North America, Concept Laser (a GE Additive Company), Open Additive, Renishaw, Velo3D, and Xact Metal.
The proposed project aims to address the challenge of qualifying AM processes for commercial and defence applications by investigating cross-platform consistency in PBF-LB Additive Manufacturing technologies. The team will engage with these nine different PBF-LB original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to develop a neutral manufacturing plan to establish consistency across platforms and determine methods for analysing and improving the consistency of LBF-PB processes
Results from this project are expected to be completed in January of 2025 and are expected to provide the industrial supply chain with the knowledge of cross-platform Additive Manufacturing capability for broad implementation with data made available to America Makes members.
“We congratulate the Colorado School of Mines and project team participants on their forward-thinking collaborative approach,” stated Brandon Ribic, PhD, Technology Director, America Makes. “We are thrilled to once again have the opportunity to collaborate with such a knowledgeable group of individuals from academia industry, and government who share our mission of accelerating the adoption of Additive Manufacturing.”