Shipboard Advanced Metal Manufacturing Machine Development

A Parallel Integrated Manufacturing System (PIMS) that combines robotic additive and subtractive manufacturing to deliver ready-to-use, net-shape parts, at the point of need, is proposed by VRC Metal Systems, LLC, as the solution to DON’s request for developing a Shipboard Advanced Metal Manufacturing Machine. This hybrid AM system solution will primarily combine additive & subtractive functions, that will allow for parallel manufacturing of parts for DON in the shipboard environment and increase DON’s warfighter readiness, distributed manufacturing capabilities, and self-sufficiency. PIMS will include a two (2)-robot system to carry out additive, deformation, non-destructive evaluation (NDE), build form scanning and dimensional measurement, and subtractive processes. This is a cost-effective solution, as the initial capital investment for the two (2) robots would be multiple times lower than the cost of integrating the deposition process into a modified CNC milling system. A wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) process will be used for the additive function of PIMS because of the process’ high deposition rate, acceptable feature resolution (low to medium), and ability to rapidly print small and large parts, in a cost-effective manner. A sensor package will be developed and attached to the PIMS cell to monitor the build process in-situ, notify the DON user when the process is outside the normal operating window, and perform corrective actions when needed. Subtractive manufacturing will be performed on the WAAM builds in the PIMS through the use of interchangeable machining tools in the tool holders. A set of additional tools for NDE, metrology, and deformation processing will be available within the PIMS cell and will be easily attached to the robotic arms for use.