UDRI will benefit from first round of funding from National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute

The University of Dayton Research Institute will benefit from the first round of applied research and development project awards announced March 20 by the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute.

Rapid Prototype + Manufacturing LLC (RP+M) of Avon Lake, Ohio, was awarded $1 million for “Maturation of Fused Deposition Modeling Component Manufacturing,” and will contract with UDRI for $575,000 for technology support and education. Other partners in the program, designed to resolve issues that have inhibited the transition to manufacturing of Fused Deposition Modeling™, a popular thermoplastic-based additive process, include Stratasys of Eden Prairie, Minn., as well as aerospace companies Boeing, GE Aviation, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

“This program allows us to pool resources and leverage highly developed composites industry design practices to mature FDM manufacturing for aerospace and defense applications,” said Brian Rice, head of the Research Institute’s Multi-Scale Composites and Polymers Division. “UDRI’s role will be to analyze material properties and define how to design and certify parts manufactured for aerospace applications.”

In July, UDRI was awarded $3 million from the Ohio Third Frontier to work with Stratasys, RP+M and additional partners to develop aircraft-engine components through additive manufacturing – also known as 3-D printing – for several aerospace manufacturers. “This new award allows us to build on the work we were already doing through the Third Frontier program, which is focused on economic development in Ohio” Rice said.

NAMII, established in August 2012 in Youngstown, Ohio, as the pilot additive-manufacturing institute under the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, awarded a total of $4.5 million to seven projects. Award recipients will generate a total of $5 million in cost share. Driven by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining, NAMII serves as a nationally recognized additive manufacturing center of innovation excellence, working to transform the U.S. manufacturing sector and yield significant advancements throughout industry.

The full news release, which includes other award recipients, can be found here: http://namii.org/namii-selects-project-call-awardees.

Each year, sponsored research programs at the University of Dayton provide real-world research opportunities to nearly 300 undergraduate and graduate students working with more than 500 professional and faculty researchers from the Research Institute, the School of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences.

March 22, 2013