General Atomics Wins $5.5 Million Aluminum Alloy Additive Manufacturing Project

en.Wedoany.com Reported - America Makes and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) announced that General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has won the "Generation of Technical Data for High-Strength Aluminum Alloy Materials" (GOTHAAM) project call, with a funding amount of $5.5 million.

The GOTHAAM project aims to develop material allowables for a high-strength aluminum alloy with performance equivalent to 7075-T73, covering laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing systems in small, medium, and large build sizes.

The material under investigation in this project is a corrosion-resistant aerospace-grade alloy with promising defense and commercial applications. The data generated by the project is intended to support original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the organic industrial base in achieving a return on investment as the material progresses toward qualified production.

The project team led by General Atomics encompasses prime contractors, printer and powder suppliers, and material producers, with members including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Airbus Space & Defense + AP Works, Hadrian Additive, Nikon AM, EOS America, Rio Tinto, and Dyndrite, among others.

John Martin, Additive Manufacturing Research Director at America Makes, stated at the time of the award that qualifying advanced additive manufacturing materials to provide robust material data supporting the production of durable, corrosion-resistant components in critical defense applications will directly strengthen the defense industrial base. He also noted that by providing validated data and advancing the maturity of LPBF capabilities, American manufacturers will gain what is needed to produce reliable components for critical defense systems.