An Exploration of the Additive Manufacturing Materials Roadmap for Army Aviation
Abstract
The Army's Advanced Manufacturing Campaign plan directs Army leaders to identify ways to use Additive Manufacturing to augment the supply chain, produce complex parts and improve performance of weapon systems (Department of Army, 2019). This research paper focuses on the Additive Manufacturing (AM) implementation roadmap for Army Aviation. Using AM in aviation is particularly challenging since, parts installed on aircraft must be certified flightworthy as part of the overall certification of the aircraft. For engineers wanting to design additively manufactured flight parts, that's easier said than done. The reason is because there are no industry-standard design (Stratasys, 2019, p. 5). In order to develop the roadmap, three areas of research are explored in this document. The first is the detailing of metal alloys currently used in aviation. The second is the aviation part families composed of each alloy. Finally, the current efforts among Department of Defense (DoD) services to obtain the Intellectual Property necessary to produce airworthy AM parts. This research culminates into recommendations for a roadmap prioritizing the order in which Army Aviation should move forward to pursue the required Intellectual Property. Once the Intellectual Property is obtained, it can be used to develop Additive Manufactured Data Sets (AMTDSs) of the metal alloys for airworthiness certification.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 15, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1180886
Entities
People
- Lisa S. Hirschler
Organizations
- Defense Acquisition University