N121-094 TITLE: Additive Manufacturing for Transducer Development

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Materials/Processes, Sensors

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: This topic is intended to benefit future FNC projects for ASW, MIW & UUVs.

RESTRICTION ON PERFORMANCE BY FOREIGN CITIZENS (i.e., those holding non-U.S. Passports): This topic is "ITAR Restricted". The information and materials provided pursuant to or resulting from this topic are restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120 - 130, which control the export of defense-related material and services, including the export of sensitive technical data. Foreign Citizens may perform work under an award resulting from this topic only if they hold the "Permanent Resident Card", or are designated as "Protected Individuals" as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). If a proposal for this topic contains participation by a foreign citizen who is not in one of the above two categories, the proposal will be rejected.

OBJECTIVE: Leverage advances in additive manufacturing (AM) to develop, with improved reliability, a lower-cost transducer suitable for Navy underwater applications.

DESCRIPTION: AM is a fabrication process in which materials are used to construct an object by means of layering, usually in accordance with a Computer Aided Design (CAD) model. Advances in AM fabrication techniques hold the promise of novel solutions for problems in manufacturing cost and reliability for complex devices used for underwater acoustic projection and sensing. Existing known methods that are likely to benefit sonar transducer construction include inkjet printing, digital light processing, fused deposition modeling, selective laser sintering and electron beam melting. These techniques vary in the materials which can be added and the method of layering. It is believed that many of the component items in a modern sonar transducer can be produced using these methods.

The problem to be solved is to identify the portions of underwater transducer manufacturing for which additive methods might successfully be applied, and to demonstrate these in an actual device. A transducer will be designed and modeled using CAD and finite element methods, and manufactured using an AM approach for at least 50% of the device. The device proposed should be of a traditional transducer design suitable for Navy underwater applications such as anti-submarine warfare, mine-hunting or acoustic communications. The demonstration of the device should include a comparison to the equivalent transducer manufactured by traditional methods.

PHASE I: The vendor will select a transducer device currently in use for a Navy underwater warfare application and justify the selection based on the potential to achieve at least 50% of the transducer's manufacture using AM methods. Once a transducer has been selected, the vendor will develop CAD and finite element models for the device and compare modeled performance to that of the equivalent device as manufactured using traditional methods. A successful Phase I project will produce a viable design for a transducer that can potentially replace its equivalent currently in use by the Navy.

PHASE II: The vendor will use additive manufacturing approaches such as laser processing, electron beam melting, aerosol jetting, inkjet processing, or semi-solid freeform processing, etc. The transducer will be developed, tested in a tank and at the Navy's Seneca Lake sonar test facility. A successful Phase II project will produce a tested device that approximates the form, fit and function of an equivalent device currently in use by the Navy.

PHASE III: With partnership from an acquisition program, transducers will be manufactured using additive manufacturing methods and demonstrated in a Navy sonar application. Comparisons to the existing transducers will include system performance, development costs, maintenance costs, and logistics impacts.

Results from Phase III will be used as the foundation for a Future Naval Capability project proposal.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Potential dual use applications are in the commercial audio industry. Techniques developed under this topic may benefit the manufacture of commercial acoustic transducers such as speakers.

REFERENCES:
1. Hopkinson, N., Hague, R., Dickens, P. editors, "Rapid Manufacturing: An Industrial Revolution for the Digital Age," Wiley & Sons, 2006.

2. Chua, C. K., Leong, K. F., & Lim, C. S., "Rapid Prototyping: Principles and Applications (2nd ed)," World Scientific Publishing, 2003.

KEYWORDS: Additive Manufacturing; Rapid Prototyping; Underwater Acoustic Transducers; Sonar

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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