Quick Summary
• OU and Oak Ridge Lab Win $8.8M to Speed 3D-Printed Parts Approval for Air Force Aircraft March 24
Additional Context
The University of Oklahoma has been awarded $8.8 million to launch Phase II of a metal 3D printing research program aimed at cutting the time and cost of certifying printed parts for U.S. Air Force aircraft. OU and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are leading the effort in partnership with the Air Force Sustainment Center, the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex.
The program targets a concrete problem: military aircraft can stay in service for more than 60 years, and replacement parts for those aging platforms are increasingly hard to source. Right now, the materials, geometry and machines used in additive manufacturing each require separate testing before a part can be certified as airworthy, making the process expensive and slow.
The new approach ditc