YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – America Makes and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining on Tuesday announced the winners of a recent project call worth a total of $920,000.

The High Priority Open Topics for Additive Manufacturing project call, funded by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Manufacturing Technology Office, consisted of two topic areas and focused on the development and maturation of additive manufacturing repairs for sustainment and beam shaping.

Repairs for sustainment methods include technologies targeting metal additive manufacturing in two areas: sustainment repairs using directed energy deposition and cold spray, and beam shaping for laser powder bed fusion. The goal is to advance manufacturing technologies and processes that lower costs, accelerate production and strengthen industrial responsiveness to meet warfighter needs.

The project reflects a collaborative effort led by the America Makes Roadmap Advisory Group and its five working groups: Design, Process, Material, Value Chain and AM Genome. 

“By engaging our members with focus and structure, we’re targeting the defense sector’s most urgent needs and advancing key additive manufacturing technologies – from certifiable repair and precise material deposition to standards development and beam shaping in [laser powder bed fusion] – to boost quality, efficiency and performance,” said John Martin, additive manufacturing research director at America Makes. “These advances strengthen sustainment and accelerate AM adoption across defense and industry.”

Here are the award winners and related topic areas:

Topic 1: AM Repairs for Sustainment

  • Team lead: RTX Technology Research Center.
  • Project team: Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology Inc.

Topic 2: Beam Shaping

  • Team lead: Colorado School of Mines.
  • Project team: DMG MORI, nLight, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Project teams will report on their progress at the America Makes Technical Review and Exchange and other industry events during the execution phase of the program.