Computational Design of Aluminum Alloys for Use in Additive Manufacturing

In this Phase II SBIR program, QuesTek Innovations, a leader in the field of integrated computational materials engineering (ICME), proposes to design and develop new aluminum alloys tailored for the unique processing conditions and challenges of Additive Manufacturing (AM) processing. QuesTek is uniquely suited to rapidly designing new aluminum alloys specifically optimized for AM processing using its advanced Materials by Design® stage-gate alloy development process, which is based upon computationally-implemented mechanistic models to predict process-structure and structure-property relationships. QuesTek is partnering with Bell Helicopter to define material property objectives and processing constraints for helicopter drive system gear box components, and Stratasys Direct Manufacturing (SDM, formerly Harvest Technologies, and a leader in DMLS technologies). QuesTek’s partnership provides a close partnership between material designer (QuesTek), AM manufacturer (SDM) and OEM user (Bell). During the Phase I, QuesTek designed a series of new alloys using computational models to target critical design parameters, and fabricated a down-selected concept into powder for DMLS experimentation and coupon-scale evaluation. QuesTek’s new alloy demonstrated feasibility of optimizing a new chemistry for AM processing. In Phase II, detailed alloy designs will be executed to yield an alloy that satisfies the total design criteria, and scale evaluation to component-level demonstration.