SBIR Phase I: Commercialization of a Novel Titanium Alloy Additive Manufacturing Process

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是基于在已经创新的增材制造（AM）行业中进一步创新。该提案代表了AM工艺在十年内高达1.2亿美元的潜在收入，这将比竞争工艺便宜几个数量级。在社会影响方面，增材制造代表了制造业的范式转变，也是将制造业和就业机会带回美国的重要机会。因此，增材制造机会的经济和环境影响对美国和世界来说都是巨大的。当地制造业对经济和环境都有影响。选择性抑制烧结技术可能代表了对这一新兴技术领域的进一步完善，特别是对于那些无法负担使用极其昂贵的竞争设备的中小型公司。该项目将实施颠覆性的增材制造技术。 选择性抑制烧结工艺背后的核心概念是防止每个粉末层的选定部分烧结。在当前的金属工艺中，利用商业压电印刷头在每层的部件边界处存款液体抑制剂溶液。一旦所有的层都完成了，整个部件从机器中取出，并在传统的烧结炉中批量烧结。在零件边界处的抑制剂分解成阻碍烧结过程的硬颗粒。防止该区域中的金属粉末颗粒熔化，从而允许去除受抑制的边界部分并露出完成的部件。该项目的成功完成将可能导致金属增材制造未来难以制造的工业零件的范式转变。目标材料是高温金属合金，如铁、钢或钛，广泛用于许多行业。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is based in furthering the innovation in an already innovative additive manufacturing (AM) industry. This proposal represents up to $120M in potential revenue within a ten year period in an AM process that will be orders of magnitude cheaper than competitive processes. With regards to a societal impact, additive manufacturing represents a paradigm shift in manufacturing and a significant opportunity to bring manufacturing and jobs back into this country. The economic and environmental implications of the additive manufacturing opportunity are thus incredibly vast for America and for the world. Local manufacturing has implications for both the economy and the environment. The Selectively Inhibited Sintering technology potentially represents a further refinement in accessibility to this burgeoning technological field, especially for small to medium sized companies that cannot afford the use of incredibly expensive competitive equipment.This project will implement a disruptive additive manufacturing technology. The core concept behind the Selectively Inhibited Sintering process is the prevention of selected segments of each powder layer from sintering. In the current metal process, a commercial piezoelectric print head is utilized to deposit a liquid inhibitor solution at the part boundary of each layer. Once all of the layers have been completed, the entire part is removed from the machine and bulk sintered in a conventional sintering furnace. The inhibitor at the part boundary decomposes into hard particles that retard the sintering process. The metal powder particles in this region are prevented from fusing, allowing for removal of inhibited boundary sections and revealing of the completed part. Successful completion of this project will potentially result in a paradigm shift in the future of metallic AM for hard-to-manufacture industrial parts. Targeted materials are high temperature metallic alloys such as iron, steel, or titanium which are widely used in many industries.