Additive manufacturing topics are well represented at TMS204, with thirteen symposia planned on the subject. No matter which aspect of additive manufacturing interests you most, join us to hear from four invited presenters, who share their perspectives on this important technology area.
Chase Cox, MELD Manufacturing Corporation
"MELD: The Development of a Disruptive Additive Manufacturing Technology"
About the Presentation
The evolution of the additive friction stir deposition (AFSD) process continues to be led by MELD Manufacturing Corporation along with the unprecedented support and collaboration from a truly diverse community of users, technologists, and visionaries. As the inventors and pioneers of AFSD, MELD Manufacturing Corporation began with a vision of what they knew to be a revolutionary technology and has since been committed to the industrialization of the technology, launching it from the laboratory to the global manufacturing stage. The earliest days of the technology’s development began with a concept to improve upon friction stir welding. This idea was quickly expanded to include multiple modalities, with perhaps the most compelling of them being a novel application for additive manufacturing. The vision would be to use this technology to address what the team saw as the shortcomings of other metal additive technologies being used by industry: speed, quality, and scale. With the idea in hand, the team set out to build the world’s first AFSD machine. This machine, known as R2, would go on to serve as the proving ground for a variety of applications. This presentation will provide an overview of this development and growth along with challenges and opportunities the team has encountered, ranging from fundamental materials science questions to international growth strategies, and even the concept of how we as a community can use this technology to manufacture parts in space and beyond!
About the Presenter
Chase Cox is the vice president of MELD Manufacturing Corporation. During his time with the company, he has had the opportunity to assume leadership roles involving the engineering, production, materials and processes, and business development teams. His educational background includes a B.S. in Physics from Austin Peay and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University.
Before joining the team that eventually formed MELD Manufacturing, Cox dedicated his efforts to advanced manufacturing processes, particularly contributing to the aerospace, defense, and oil and gas industries. Cox also serves on advisory boards for various research institutions, both domestic and international.
For the past five years, Cox has been instrumental in cultivating a global market for MELD technology. His approach involves aligning process capabilities and technology development with the specific needs of the aerospace, space, and defense industries.
Dierk Raabe, Max-Planck Institute
"Alloy-Design for Additive Manufacturing: An Atomic-Scale Perspective"
About the Presentation
While additive manufacturing, and in particular laser additive manufacturing, is by now well-established for producing metallic parts, studies targeting the segregation and structural interface features at the atomic- and nanoscale for microstructure-optimization of existing alloys and the design of novel advanced alloys tailored specifically to laser additive manufacturing are sparse. The lecture therefore provides a brief overview of the atomic-scale partitioning, segregation, and precipitation mechanisms during additive manufacturing of complex engineering alloys as a starting point to develop metallic materials that are not only suitable for additive manufacturing, but which actually exploit their unique thermo-mechanical characteristics.
About the Presenter
Dierk Raabe studied music, metallurgy, and metal physics. After his doctorate 1992 and habilitation 1997 at RWTH Aachen, he received a Heisenberg fellowship and worked at Carnegie Mellon University. He joined Max Planck Society as a director in 1999. His main interest today is to make industrial production of materials more sustainable, focusing on basic research where the leverage for CO2 elimination is particularly large. His specific interests lie in sustainable metals (specifically green steel and sustainable aluminum alloys), physical metallurgy of metallic alloys, steels, hydrogen, aluminum alloys, atom probe tomography, machine learning, green manufacturing, and metal combustion. He received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Award (highest German Science Award), The Acta Materialia Gold Medal, and two ERC Advanced Grants (highest European Research Grant). He is professor at RWTH Aachen in Germany and at KU Leuven in Belgium.
Cindy Waters, Naval Surface Warfare Research Center Carderock Division
"Additive Manufacturing at Every ‘Sea’ State"
About the Presentation
Navy Leaders continuously assess risk and look towards optimal solutions. Subject matter experts in advanced manufacturing (AM) have become an integral part of this conversation. The adoption of new technology must come with evidence to justify spending taxpayer dollars and applying new processes to improve mission outcomes. Various naval commands are working to speed the adoption of AM through research and strong collaborations. In 2021, the Department of Defense distributed the Additive Manufacturing Strategy report which highlights three areas: enhancing the warfighter, increasing battlefield readiness, and modernizing the military for the 21st century. This talk will discuss these three areas in regard to Navy applications. The traditional means of making metal parts by casting and forging has served humankind well for the past 2,600 years or so, but The Department of the Navy believes additive manufacturing is the future. AM is an imperative, not a science fair project!
About the Presenter
Cindy Waters is the Senior Science Technology Manager (SSTM), Principal for Advanced Manufacturing and Materials, for NAVSEA. A former tenured faculty member, she co-authored a book titled Additive Manufacturing for Designers: A Primer. In 2019, she transitioned to the naval research position. She supports the insertion of additive manufacturing, materials, and advanced manufacturing processes into expeditionary and future naval platforms designs. As a lead technical expert in the Naval Research and Development Establishment where she strives to integrate best practices from Industry and Academia into the organization. She is a Sustainment and Repair Knowledge Point Champion for NAVSEA working with headquarters and CNR to prioritize and guide S&T research investments for better discussion with outside world. She served as an ONR Coordinator for the Manufacturing Engineering Education Program (MEEP). Her schedule includes frequent pro outreach at scientific, industry and DOD meetings and participates in invited talks to external organizations.
Minh-Son Pham, Imperial College London
TMS Young Innovator in the Materials Science of Additive Manufacturing Award:
"Meta-Crystals: Synergistic Combination of Materials Science and Additive Manufacturing"
About the Presentation
Mimicking the crystalline microstructure enables a synergistic fusion of materials science and additive manufacturing to create meta-crystals consisting of hierarchical self-similar structures: crystalline microstructure (natural crystals) within crystal-like architectures (artificial crystals). Engineering such hierarchical structures provides excellent opportunities to translate the metallurgical strengthening mechanisms and create new strengthening sources in architected structures to achieve high strength, plastic deformation stability, and excellent energy absorption for lightweight architected materials. Moreover, tailoring the crystal-mimicking mesostructures to specific locations enables programming the spatial mechanical behavior and shape-morphing that help improve the adaptability of architected materials.
About the Presenter
Minh-Son Pham is a senior lecturer (equivalent to a tenured associate professor) in Engineering Alloys at Imperial College London, and currently leads a dynamic research group focusing on alloy design, mechanical metamaterials, additive manufacturing, mechanical integrity (fatigue, creep and hydrogen embrittlement) of metallic alloys. He leads a transformative approach that proposes the mimicry of crystalline microstructure to create artificial crystals (i.e. meta-crystals) that are lightweight, high strength and programmable. His excellent track record in research includes > 40 peer-reviewed publications (including ones in Journal of Mechanics and Physics of Solids, and Nature), and > 15 plenary/keynote/invited talks at major conferences (e.g., Additive Manufacturing International and TMS conferences). His research has been recognized via a series of accolades awarded in the UK, USA, and Switzerland, including the ETH Medal 2013. Pham has established an extensive collaboration with leading academics and industrial experts to tackle challenges in energy, automobiles, aerospace, space, and medical devices. Pham received a doctor of science degree from ETHZ and spent three years as a postdoc in Anthony Rollett’s group at Carnegie Mellon University during which he was also a NIST guest researcher.