INTERLOG CORPORATION — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: AF193-019

Description

Air Force seeks a rapid manufacturing capability of anodes used in electroplating. To address this Air Force need, Interlog Corporation proposes a novel Rapid Integrated Additive Manufacturing (RIAM) system. The proposed RIAM system is based on Interlog’s proprietary point-by-point ultrasonic consolidation (PUC) technology that uses high-intensity, safe, ultrasonic energy to bond similar and dissimilar materials through atomic diffusion without a melting or liquefying process. It provides an integrated single 3D printing platform to create the entire anode. Based on ultrasonic bonding, a solid-state welding technology, the RIAM system operates in ambient environment and does not require melting lead alloys. This effectively mitigates environmental hazards as well as the poor controllability associated with melting toxic eutectic lead alloys in conventional metal 3D printing technologies. In the Phase I program, Interlog will demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed RIAM system through analytic analysis, subsystem/ module development and prototyping an integrated 3-D printing system. In the Phase II program, Interlog will focus on optimizing the system design and development with improved hardware and software. In the Phase III program, Interlog plans to refine the prototype performance and to collaborate with our commercial partners to package the additive manufacturing technology into a commercially-available system.