VEXTEC Corporation — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: X224-OCSO1

Description

Additive Manufacturing (AM) offers the potential for 30-60% cost savings on complex, high-value parts in the aerospace industry by reducing machining costs and reducing part count in complex assemblies. Development of AM integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) risk prediction tools are necessary to help scale AM for the Air Force efficiently and with higher confidence.  VEXTEC’s proposed solution combines testing with modeling to predict the structural reliability of a part with higher confidence. It uses all available data from manufacturing, design, laboratory test and field usage to create probabilistic models of part failure. Models are exercised over a statistically large population of parts to predict the risk of failure which is not practical with testing alone. Models identifies conditions that lead to the low probability failure (tails of the curve). The effort will demonstrate feasibility of utilizing computational simulation to reduce the large physical test database required to produce confidence in AM product structural properties for the military and commercial clients alike.