Additive manufacturing (AM) researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering and simulation software company ANSYS, Inc. are among 13 university-led proposals to capture an Early Stage Innovations (ESI) grant from NASA’s Space Technology Research Grants Program.
The Pitt team’s three-year, USD $500,000 award, “Prediction of Microstructure Evolution in DMLM (Direct Material Laser Melting) processed Inconel 718 with Part Scale Simulation” was funded in the Modeling and Simulation-Based Certification of Additive Manufacturing Processing Parameters category.
The research team’s proposal noted that NASA is keenly interested in improving the performance of structural components for high-temperature applications such as jet engine parts, where both creep and strength are critical and need to be anticipated.