REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (Sept. 18, 2015) -- Additive manufacturing is changing the way products are designed and manufactured. The Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center, one of seven U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command subordinate organizations, is striving to capitalize on the advancement of this technology, widely known as 3D printing.
AMRDEC and the Marshall Space Flight Center officially established an Additive Manufacturing Integrated Product Team in May 2014. The IPT's mission is to engage in research and development efforts that advance the state of the art in AM.
Recently, over 100 AMRDEC employees attended AM training delivered by the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, America Makes, at Redstone Arsenal. The training was coordinated by Katherine Olson, AMRDEC General Engineer, Manufacturing Science and Technology Division, Engineering Directorate.
Training topics included an overview of the seven AM processes as defined by the American Society for Testing and Materials, material and process selection, design for additive, and application uses that can benefit the Department of Defense and the commercial industry.
"AM has evolved from the early days of rapid prototyping to a more mature industry primarily due to improvements in equipment and material choices," Olson said. "AM can enable much shorter design cycles for new parts, reduce the cost of custom or small run orders, integrate with and improve existing processes, and create new and improved products that were previously impossible due to the limitations of traditional manufacturing."
"To date, there are over 5,000 issued patents related to AM," said Cindy Wallace, AMRDEC Deputy Chief, Office Research Technology Applications. "AM is a fast growing market and companies all over the world are involved with it to keep costs down on manufacturing."
AMRDEC employees also participated in group design and print projects using Solidworks 3D CAD design software and Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printers.
"By making the AMRDEC workforce aware of this emerging technology, we can start to think outside of the box with respect to the design, production and repair of aviation and missile platforms," said Wallace.
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The Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command, which has the mission to develop technology and engineering solutions for America's Soldiers.
RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command. AMC is the Army's premier provider of materiel readiness -- technology, acquisition support, materiel development, logistics power projection, and sustainment -- to the total force, across the spectrum of joint military operations. If a Soldier shoots it, drives it, flies it, wears it, eats it or communicates with it, AMC provides it.
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