Awardees of Model Challenge to Split $235,000
By Terry Troy
Ingenuity and innovation valuable commodities for manufacturing in Ohio and today is no different. Ohio’s manufacturing workforce is the third largest in the nation and at $104.6 billion it’s one of the largest industries in the state. Ohio’s manufacturing sector employs 700,000 dedicated and well trained workers. Manufacturers invest more than $12 billion research and development statewide, according to JobsOhio.
So it should come as no surprise that Ohio is also home to several organizations dedicated to additive manufacturing and three-D printing. Located in Youngstown, one of those organizations, America Makes along with the Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials & Manufacturing Directorate Structural Materials Metals Branch, last week announced the winners of its additive manufacturing (AM) Modeling Challenge Series, awarding a total of $235,000 to be split among the four awardees.
Launched in November 2019 and comprised of four individual challenges, the AFRL AM Modeling Challenge Series represents another innovative approach America Makes and AFRL are taking to advance the AM industry.
The goal of this Challenge Series was to improve the accuracy of model predictions for metal AM, using INCONEL® nickel-chromium alloy 625 (IN625). Challenge participants were provided high-pedigree calibration and validation data sets needed to develop new models as it directly related to predicting the internal structure and resultant performance of AM metallic components.
“Going into the AFRL AM Modeling Challenge Series, we knew that the outcomes would potentially lead to significantly improved predictability and accuracy of models and simulations, and the qualification of AM process and materials,” said John Wilczynski, America Makes executive director. “The awardees of these four challenges certainly made solid contributions. They improved our understanding of the micro- and macro-structure level variability that was needed to advance the accuracy of modeling and simulation for AM metal. We thank all those who participated and extend our congratulations to the awardees.”
The AFRL AM Modeling Challenge Series project team awardees are:
Challenge 1: Macro-scale Process-to-Structure Predictions, Dassault Systems Government Solutions Corp.
Challenge 2: Micro-scale Process-to-Structure Predictions, The Wing Kam Liu Group at Northwestern University.
Challenge 3: Macro-scale Structure-to-Properties Predictions, QuesTek Innovations LLC.
Challenge 4: Micro-scale Structure-to-Properties Predictions, University of Utah, Carnegie Mellon University, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
As the national accelerator for additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing (3DP), America Makes is the nation’s leading and collaborative partner in AM and 3DP technology research, discovery, creation, and innovation. Structured as a public-private partnership with member organizations from industry, academia, government, non-government agencies, and workforce and economic development resources, America Makes works with its partners to innovate and accelerate AM and 3DP to increase our nation’s global manufacturing competitiveness.
America Makes was established in 2012, is based in Youngstown, Ohio, and is the flagship Institute for Manufacturing USA, the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. America Makes is managed and operated by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM).
