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Rapid Part Qualification Methodology of Aircraft Metallic Components using…

Award Information

Agency:
Department of Defense 		Branch:
N/A 		Award ID:
 Program Year/Program:
2011 / SBIR
Agency Tracking Number:
N111-077-0219 		Solicitation Year:
2011 		Solicitation Topic Code:
N111-077 		Solicitation Number:
2011.1
Small Business Information
Keystone Synergistic Enterprises, Inc.
664 NW Enterprise Drive Suite 118 Port Saint Lucie, FL -
View profile »
Woman-Owned: No
Minority-Owned: No
HUBZone-Owned: No
 
Phase 1
Fiscal Year: 2011
Title: Rapid Part Qualification Methodology of Aircraft Metallic Components using Direct Digital Manufacturing Technologies
Agency: DOD
Contract: N00014-11-M-0188
Award Amount: $79,951.00
 

Abstract:

Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM) reduces cost and energy content of manufactured parts and enables producing parts-on-demand. The DDM process can reduce part acquisition time from several months to less than a few days. DDM reduces energy and machining cost by eliminating tooling and reducing by 10-20 times the buy-to-fly ratios of conventionally produced titanium parts. However, to achieve timely realization of these benefits, a rapid certification method is required for DDM of a wide range of metallic parts having diverse geometries. Presently, in order to ensure airworthiness, DDM parts must pass a lengthy and costly certification process. This significantly affects the Navy"s ability to use DDM to produce parts-on-demand. Thus, Keystone proposes an innovative method for part certification using a heuristic and adaptive approach and processing maps combined with non-destructive inspection, metallurgical review and limited mechanical property tests. The proposed project strategy envisions that an aircraft component can be composed of several standardized, building blocks of simple 3-dimensional geometric shapes and manufactured using'sweet spot'parameters and practices. These representative geometric elements of a component, when fabricated using sweet spot process parameters and manufacturing practices, properly tested for defects, microstructure and mechanical properties, will enable establishment of a qualification algorithm and used for rapidly qualifying additional parts.

Principal Investigator:

Bryant Walker
President
(772) 343-7544
bryant@keystonehq.com

Business Contact:

Bryant Walker
President
(772) 343-7544
bryant@keystonehq.com
Small Business Information at Submission:

Keystone Synergistic Enterprises, Inc.
698 SW Port Saint Lucie Blvd Suite 105 Port Saint Lucie, FL -

EIN/Tax ID: 651136876
DUNS: N/A
Number of Employees:
Woman-Owned: No
Minority-Owned: No
HUBZone-Owned: No