Hybrid Additive Manufacturing Machine

The Government is interested in developing a self-contained, mobile manufacturing cell that combines traditional five-axis CNC milling, metallic based Additive Manufacturing (AM) (3D-Printing), and in-situ sensors. The Cell is expected reduce sustainment burden and be fielded OCONUS, where the Army is unable to rapidly support in-field requests for either one-off samples or replacement service parts. Existing metallic based deposition technologies have three main areas of applications; part repair, cladding, and near-net-shape freeform builds. These technologies almost invariably require a time consuming and costly follow-up machining step for any metal part. The Government is seeking the development and demonstration of a manufacturing process that combines AM and subtractive manufacturing into a single machine, capable of producing finished three-dimensional (3D), near net shape parts or components. This technology is expected to deposit and machine high temperature alloys such as Titanium, Inconel, Hastaloy, Rene, and other hard-to-machine materials. All equipment will fit into one standard 20-foot shipping container for shipping, but can expand once stationed. Heat/energy source is not specified (can be laser, E-BEAM, plasma/ARC, or other). The AM system can be powder or wire fed.