Ireland Degges
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has issued Materion Corporation a contract to support additive manufacturing research and development efforts.
Under the award, Materion will assist with the study of this production technique, which is also referred to as 3D printing, for beryllium and aluminum-beryllium alloys, the Mayfield Heights, Ohio-headquartered company announced on Monday.
“Our additive manufacturing laboratory has demonstrated the viability of beryllium additive manufacturing, and we look forward to working with the US-AFRL to advance into a new phase of our research and development efforts,” said Materion Performance Materials President Clive Grannum.
He said that with the company’s history of providing beryllium offerings, it has the “expertise to operationalize these specialized manufacturing techniques” for both current and potential clients seeking complex components for modern applications.
Materion’s contracting responsibilities will support labor, material and operating costs associated with the establishment of processes for multiple deposition technologies in a safe, expandable environment. The company will also help develop associated tools for the pre- and post-production of powder and material inputs and structures and components.
Advancing additive manufacturing capabilities for these target materials is expected to improve the production and performance of optics structures, guidance systems and thermal management applications within defense and aerospace markets.
The contract, which is valued at $5 million, has a performance period of two years.
Materion is also delivering beryllium and beryllium oxide materials to the Idaho National Laboratory under the Department of Energy’s Microreactor Applications Research Validation and Evaluation Project, an initiative that aims to develop a nuclear microreactor test bed.
Interested in learning more about defense R&D programs? At the Potomac Officers Club’s 10th Annual Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 31, experts from both government and industry will come together for a deep dive into the Department of Defense’s most critical R&D initiatives. Heidi Shyu, under secretary of defense for research and engineering, will keynote the event. Click here to learn more and click here to register.
