The Utah Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Initiative (UAMMI) was recently awarded nearly $1M in federal funds to produce carbon composite additive manufactured parts for the Air Force. Using new technology from project partner, Impossible Objects, the outcome of the project will be to 3D print carbon based replacement parts for legacy aircraft on demand, something that is often prohibitively expensive and time consuming using traditional technologies. UAMMI was one of only three recipients awarded this portion of the grant to “demonstrate emerging technologies”. The two others were United Technologies Research Center and University of Dayton Research Institute.
On June 13, 2018, UAMMI kicked off the grant project at Ohio State University. Attendees included representatives from America Makes, OSU, Youngstown State, GE, Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Sustainment Center, and Penn State Applied Research Laboratory. In the coming months, the project will be run out of the USTAR Innovation Center near Hill Air Force Base. Specialized equipment from Impossible Objects will be setup there and printing of carbon-based 3D objects for the Air Force will begin.
