NCAME at Auburn Emerges as Significant Milestone On Additive Manufacturing ‘Inflection Point’ Journey By Michael C. Gabriele
T
he titanium industry remains on a quest to harness the potential of additive manufacturing. The journey has been long, but in recent years there have been significant advances in this field, with the promise that the complex technology can usher in a next generation of efficient, reliable, cost-effective commercial production capabilities. The International Titanium Association (ITA) has dedicated significant editorial coverage of this technology through its publication, TITANIUM TODAY. The trek towards the goal of arriving at a much-anticipated “inflection point” for the technology has reached a major milestone, given the research, training and partnerships coalescing at the National Center for Additive Manufacturing Excellence (NCAME) at Auburn University, Auburn, AL. By way of introduction, the center operates as additive manufacturing center of excellence, a collaborative effort among Auburn University, NASA, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and ASTM International, according to information posted on the group’s website (https://eng.auburn.edu/ ncame). In addition to conducting research to advance the technology, NCAME’s mission is to facilitate effective collaborations among industry, government, academia, non-profit organizations, and ASTM committees, ensuring a coordinated, global effort toward rapidly closing standards and workforce 38
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Nima Shamsaei
development gaps in additive manufacturing. Nima Shamsaei, the founding director of NCAME and professor of mechanical engineering in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, said the program initially began to take shape in 2015 when Auburn established a partnership with the NIST, which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. In the fall of 2017, NCAME became NASA’s strategic academic partner and together they became the founding partners of the ASTM Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AM CoE). (See the first quarter edition of TITANIUM TODAY for a feature article on AM CoE.) NCAME has benefitted from strategic capital investments in recent years, which, collectively, have helped to transform the group into a hub for leading-edge technology.
The list of investments and grants include a $18-million renovation of Auburn’s Gavin Engineering Research Laboratory; support from Auburn’s Presidential Awards for Interdisciplinary Research grant to explore additive manufacturing for medical implants; $7-million in grants from the NIST; a $4.5-million grant for the FAA; a $10-million award from NASA; and a $250,000 Concept Laser MLAB 100R metal printer from GE Aviation. Developing additive manufacturing systems to produce parts for biomedical and aerospace are high on the list of priorities for NCAME. Shamsaei said the group focuses on powder metal and laser system in additive manufacturing. Commercially pure titanium (for medical implants), along with Ti6Al-4V, nickel-based superalloys, and aluminum alloys (for aerospace)
