Researchers to Develop More-Reliable 3D Printing for Making Jet Engine Parts
TUCSON, AZ—NASA is spending $750,000 on a project undertaken by two University of Arizona (UA) researchers who use machine learning methods to mitigate defects that occur during the 3D printing of jet engine parts. Lockheed Martin Space and the 3D printing companies companies Open Additive and CompuTherm are working with Mohammed Shafae of systems and industrial engineering and Andrew Wessman of materials science and engineering at the university.
“Andrew and Mohammed are using their combined backgrounds in materials science and systems engineering to look at additive manufacturing from a microscopic level all the way up to the large-scale systems level,” says David W. Hahn, Craig M. Berge dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Arizona. “Advanced manufacturing is one of the college’s research focus areas, and this is a great example of an interdisciplinary effort to advance the field and keep the UA at the forefront.”