SBIR Phase II: An Affordable Metal Additive Manufacturing Machine

SBIR二期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使用昂贵的核心部件和消耗性材料，在高价格的机器上生产99.9%的致密零件。这个拟议中的项目对大多数美国制造商对工业级不锈钢部件的性能要求提出了质疑。虽然这些制造商需要高性能，但由于与当前商业技术相关的高资本支出、维护和运营成本，他们目前无法负担AM的优势。该提案重新审视了新型金属增材制造系统所需的材料性能、机器成本和可靠性要求，以满足大多数美国制造商的需求。在开发一种低成本的增材制造替代方案时，该提案的目标是让估计超过50,000家美国制造商利用增材制造的优势，同时在竞争激烈、高度全球化的制造业中竞争。此外，由于成本高、交货期长，中小批量订单（1000 - 20000件）的采购极具挑战性。提议发明的低成本机器允许金属增材制造中从未见过的可扩展性，允许小型制造商通过利用有意义的订单数量进行扩展，并与大型企业集团的资源竞争。这项研究对许多行业都有广泛的影响，并可能从根本上促进美国制造业的增长和繁荣。拟议的项目重新审视了目前可用的商用金属增材制造机器对高科技、高成本核心部件的需求。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。3DEO工艺是基于两种低技术、低成本、成熟技术的新组合。用这种新方法创建一个坚固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，以及对成品部件的材料性能进行基本评估和改进。此外，完全重新设计烧结周期和长时间的收缩特性评估将是克服的核心挑战，以实现制造合作伙伴所要求的严格公差。因此，这些挑战需要紧密的跨学科合作才能取得有意义的成果。提出的研究目标是制造具有足够结构完整性的粉末冶金零件，以满足工业最终用途的要求。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This SBIR Phase II 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 calls into question the performance requirements that most American manufacturers have for industrial grade stainless steel parts. While these manufacturers require high performance, they cannot currently afford to take advantage of AM benefits due to the high capital expenditure, maintenance, and operating costs associated with current commercial technologies. This proposal re-examines the material performance, machine cost and reliability requirements necessary for a novel metal AM system to satisfy most American manufacturers' needs. In developing a low-cost AM alternative, the goal of the proposal is to allow an estimated over 50,000 American manufacturers to capitalize on the benefits of AM and simultaneously compete in an ultra-competitive, highly globalized manufacturing industry. In addition, procurement for low to medium volume order quantities (1000 - 20,000 pieces) is incredibly challenging with respect to high cost and long lead times. The proposed invention of a low-cost machine allows for never seen scalability in metal AM, allowing for smaller manufacturers to scale by taking advantage of meaningful order quantities and compete with the resources of large conglomerates. This research has broad implications in many industries and could 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 3DEO process is based on a novel combination of two low-tech and low cost, 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 trough 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, completely re-designed sintering cycles and a lengthy evaluation of shrinkage characteristics will be core challenges to overcome to achieve the tight tolerances manufacturing partners require. As such, these challenges will require tight cross-disciplinary collaboration for a meaningful outcome. The goal of the proposed research is to fabricate powder metallurgy parts of adequate structural integrity to satisfy industrial end-use requirements.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.