DARPA is collaborating with industry leaders on a comprehensive mission aimed at accelerating the progress of additive manufacturing for essential structural components.
Through meticulous examination of 3D printing processes during manufacturing, the agency seeks to bolster its effectiveness and reliability. Spearheaded by the Structures Uniquely Resolved to Guarantee Endurance (SURGE) program, DARPA aims to pioneer new approaches to predicting the lifespan and viability of parts directly from manufacturing data.
This multifaceted project involves the seamless integration of state-of-the-art in-situ sensing technologies, advanced process modeling techniques, and sophisticated fatigue-life methodologies. The ultimate objective of the SURGE program is to chart a transformative path forward in part qualification within additive manufacturing. Departing from conventional machine-centric paradigms, SURGE plans to establish a dynamic framework wherein the lifespan of each unique component could be accurately forecasted in real-time.
By leveraging this approach, the program will unlock the potential for producing diverse part geometries on virtually any machine, irrespective of geographical location or temporal constraints.
An additional goal of the initiative is to mitigate the extensive costs and time associated with traditional methods of process optimization and material property testing. Traditionally, perfecting the operation of individual additive manufacturing machines to consistently produce materials with known properties could take months, or years.
In contrast, the SURGE program intends to streamline this process by developing predictive capabilities that could be universally applied across disparate machines, materials, locations, and geometries.
Source: militaryaerospace.com
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