Additive Manufacturing for Big Navy Parts

Manufacturing supply of critical Navy parts is disrupted or at risk in the United States. High quality metal parts for submarines and ships cannot be produced or procured at necessary rates to support our fleet. US manufacturing with conventional methods such as casting, forging and extrusion needs assistance to support the product types and rates necessary. Additive manufacturing has emerged to fulfil the needs of producing casting, forging and machined assembly parts at rates suitable for Navy needs. Progress in publishing, implementing and utilizing manufacturing standards has enabled customers with the acceptance criteria required to put parts into service. In particular, NAVSEA Technical Publication S9074-A4-GIB-010/AM-WIRE DED, Rev. 1 provides specific requirements for metal wire-fed Directed Energy Deposition (DED) additive manufacturing. The qualification of manufacturers, machines, processes, materials and personnel to this standard is essential for Navy component manufacturing. This effort shall focus on two critical materials identified by NAVSEA for additive manufactured parts: Copper Nickel [70/30] (CuNi) and Nickel Aluminum Bronze (NAB).  Manufacturability is dependent upon compliance with applicable manufacturing standards. This technical effort shall conduct work in alignment with NAVSEA Technical Publication S9074-A4-GIB-010/AM-WIRE DED, Rev. 1 to establish baseline technical information and concurrence with our NAVSEA TPOC. Because this is a new document, instances of implementation are rare. This effort shall serve as a pilot implementation of the document and provide practical feedback to NAVSEA.  The effort shall perform fundamental activities necessary for the production and testing of procedure qualification builds. As necessary preparation, the effort shall create and align quality, business and manufacturing management systems to the Technical Publication. The effort shall train and qualify operators to the requirements of the Technical Publication.