DARPA Awards Auburn University up to $2.8M for AM Qualification Research

Penn State University Associate Professor Guha Manogharan seeks to optimize the qualification process for AM parts

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Penn State University, State College, Pennsylvania, $1.6 million to advance research in additive manufacturing (AM). Mechanical engineering Associate Professor Guha Manogharan, co-director of the Center for Innovative Materials Processing through Direct Digital Deposition (CIMP-3D), will lead the project as the principal investigator. The research will be conducted in collaboration with Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas.

This initiative is part of the larger "One Part And Life" (OPAL) project, which has a potential funding cap of $6.2 million under DARPA’s Structures Uniquely Resolved to Guarantee Endurance (SURGE) program. Manogharan aims to leverage his expertise and the advanced machinery at CIMP-3D to explore new qualification approaches for 3D-printed parts.

Recent advancements in metal AM have enabled the rapid production of complex parts, which are increasingly being adopted across multiple sectors, including aerospace, defense, and biomedical fields. However, despite the growth, existing methods for qualifying and certifying the stability of printed parts remain costly and inefficient. Current practices often require extensive, machine-specific testing, significantly hindering widespread adoption for large-scale production. The SURGE program seeks to streamline this process by developing a new method to assess the fatigue performance of individual AM parts during production.

"We aim to enhance prediction accuracy and reduce the time needed to estimate the service life of metal parts produced through additive manufacturing," Manogharan stated. He believes this funding will help optimize the metal AM supply chain in the U.S. and propel the technology into broader industrial use.

"Our lab has been at the forefront of metal AM research for a decade," Manogharan added. "This technology has the potential to transform the production landscape for metal components in defense, aerospace, and various engineering applications, making processes faster and more efficient."