Shipboard Additive Manufacturing (AM)/3D Printing Navy SBIR FY2016.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2016.1 Topic No.: N161-038 Topic Title: Shipboard Additive Manufacturing (AM)/3D Printing Proposal No.: N161-038-0743 Firm: Texas Research Institute Austin, Inc. 9063 Bee Caves Road Austin, Texas 78733 Contact: Harry Perkinson Phone: (512) 426-5335 Web Site: http://www.tri-austin.com Abstract: The use of additive manufacturing on board Navy ships offers the potential to be able to replace defective parts at a lower cost and timelier manner. There are three main issues in regard to using fusion deposition modeling (FDM) on Navy ships, including, the current inability of any FDM feed stock materials to meet the NAVSEA fire, smoke, and toxicity (FST) requirements for materials used aboard ship, the high humidity environment on board ship adversely modifies the process-ability of the feed stock materials, and the ship motion interrupts the orderly deposition of material during the part build resulting in defective parts. Texas Research Institute Austin proposes to develop a feed stock material that will meet FST requirements, develop operational procedures that will counter the high humidity environment, and to devise machine improvements and an isolation mount that will allow the FDM machine to operate through a wider range of ship motions. The proposed effort will result in a FDM system, including machine, material, and processing steps, that will allow the Navy to produce replacement parts on the ship while the ship is underway. Benefits: The ability to use additive manufacturing (AM) to build replacement parts for shipboard components, equipment, and furnishings will reduce the logistical costs associated with keeping the ship in a high state of readiness. The ability to build replacement parts on board ship will improve the quality of life for the Sailors and Marines on the ship as delays in the logistical train will not affect quality of life. Return