SBIR Phase I: An Affordable Metal Additive Manufacturing Machine

SBIR第一阶段项目旨在解决与金属增材制造（AM）相关的技术采用的两个最大障碍-成本和数量。目前的金属增材制造平台在生产99.9%致密零件的高价机器中使用昂贵的核心部件和消耗材料。该项目引入了一种性能较低、价格合理的不锈钢增材制造技术，能够满足绝大多数客户对工业级不锈钢零件的需求。由于与当前技术相关的高成本，绝大多数市场根本无法利用AM的优势。该提案重新审视了新型金属AM系统所需的材料性能、机器成本和可靠性要求。该提案的目标是让估计超过50，000家美国制造商利用AM的优势，并在竞争激烈，高度全球化的制造业中竞争获胜。此外，低成本机器的拟议发明允许金属AM的前所未有的可扩展性，允许较小的制造商与大型企业集团的资源竞争。这项研究在许多行业都有广泛的影响，并被认为是从根本上使美国制造业的增长和繁荣。拟议的项目重新审视目前可用的商业金属AM机器的高技术，高成本的核心部件的需求。通过对基于喷墨打印头的粘合剂喷射工艺的创新解构，创造了一种生产金属最终用途部件的方法。所提出的工艺是基于两种低成本和成熟技术的新组合。用这种新方法创建一个强大的原型是一个极具挑战性的，多方面的项目，涉及材料科学的关键进展，通过开发一种与新工艺兼容的新型粘合剂系统，以及对完工零件材料性能的基本评估和改进。此外，重新设计烧结周期和开发软件预测算法以预测收缩特性将是需要克服的核心挑战，以实现制造合作伙伴所需的严格公差。因此，这些挑战将需要紧密的跨学科合作，以取得有意义的成果。拟议研究的最终目标是制造足够的结构完整性的粉末冶金零件，以满足工业最终用途的要求。

This SBIR Phase I Project aims to tackle the two greatest barriers to technology adoption associated with metal additive manufacturing (AM) - cost and quantities. Current metal AM platforms use expensive core components and consumable materials in high-priced machines that produce 99.9% dense parts. The proposed project introduces a lower performance, affordable stainless steel additive manufacturing technology that will be capable of satisfying the vast majority of customer needs for industrial grade stainless steel parts. The vast majority of the market simply cannot afford to take advantage of AM benefits due to the high costs associated with current technologies. This proposal re-examines the material performance, machine cost and reliability requirements necessary for a novel metal AM system. The goal of the proposal is to allow an estimated 50,000+ American manufacturers to capitalize on the benefits of AM and compete to win in an ultra-competitive, highly globalized manufacturing industry. Furthermore, the proposed invention of a low-cost machine allows for unprecedented scalability in metal AM, allowing smaller manufacturers to compete with the resources of large conglomerates. This research has broad implications in many industries and is considered to be fundamentally enabling for the growth and prosperity of American manufacturing.The proposed project re-examines the need for high technology, high cost core components in currently available commercial metallic AM machines. Through an innovative deconstruction of the inkjet print head-based, binder jetting process, a method for producing metal end-use parts has been created. The proposed process is based on a novel combination of two low cost and established technologies. The creation of a robust prototype with this novel method is a highly challenging, multi-faceted project involving key advances in materials science through the development of a novel binder system compatible with the new process as well as a fundamental evaluation and improvement of material properties of the as-built parts. In addition, re-designed sintering cycles and development of software prediction algorithms to anticipate shrinkage characteristics will be core challenges to overcome in order to achieve the tight tolerances manufacturing partners require. As such, these challenges will require tight cross-disciplinary collaboration for a meaningful outcome. The ultimate goal of the proposed research is to fabricate powder metallurgy parts of adequate structural integrity to satisfy industrial end-use requirements.