Elementum 3D is excited to announce the expansion of the 5083 aluminum alloy product line to include A5083-RAM2. A5083-RAM2 is a high strength aluminum alloy with excellent printability, good corrosion resistance and ductility, and no post build heat treatment requirement. The material has exceptionally consistent properties with minimal print orientation-dependent property variation following stress relief. Printed A5083-RAM2 has significantly greater strength than even work hardened wrought 5083 aluminum.

A5083-RAM2 has essentially the same advantages as A5083-RAM5, but the lower RAM content (2% vs. 5%) gives A5083-RAM2 greater ductility with only a small debit in strength. 

Back in September 2023, we informed our readers about the U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC) awarding Elementum 3D a Phase II SBIR contract. Well, now it’s time flesh out the details of the contract and how the success of this project intertwines with safeguarding U.S. citizen from emerging treats.

The Army Applications Laboratory (AAL), a part of the AFC, contracts with existing organizations to drive the Army into the future and maintain USA’s advantage on the battlefield of tomorrow. They continually search for solutions to potential logistical challenges by challenging the conventional approach and developing solutions using cutting edge commercial technology.

The specific problem the AAL wants to solve with the Phase II awarded to Elementum 3D is to develop alternative materials to support operations in a contested logistics environment. It was imperative for the AAL to award an organization capable of maturing and optimizing advanced manufacturing processes to enable printable ammunition manufacturing. Under SBIR funding agreements, the organization would research and develop the use of a high-specific stiffness aluminum metal matrix composite in housing targeting and electronics components. This effort would also investigate how to incorporate advanced manufacturing techniques to demonstrate a scalable, non-traditional approach to manufacturing supply chain materials in a forward area to enable the rapid resupply of existing systems.

AAL awarded Elementum 3D the SBIR Phase II award to leverage its previous work for the government on 3D printing and additive manufacturing (AM). Fortius Metals, Elementum 3D’s sister company focusing on wire Directed Energy Deposition (DED), is also supporting the project. A month has passed since the project kicked off, but the AAL and Elementum have been engaging in quality crosstalk for the last few months leading up to the project start to move the project forward and hit the ground running.

“Since receiving the contract, AAL has received good real-time feedback from Elementum 3D. The kickoff presentation was informative, and the presentation helped highlight evolving concepts and inspired additional comments from the stakeholders present,” said MAJ T. Alex Kehler, Project Manager, Army Applications Lab.

If this project produces promising results, AAL will, as with every project, transition MVP solutions to trusted partners. Moreover, if successful, there will be access to AM munition components capable of being supplied and stored under less stringent restrictions and the disaggregated manufacture of munitions will be optimized, improving lethality on demand while reducing burden on the logistical supply chain. Additionally, the matured technologies are modular and could be tailored to multiple weapon systems and ammunition sizes to establish a responsive foundation for emerging threats and increase effectiveness.

About Army Applications Laboratory

AAL accelerates technology into the hands of warfighters by developing solutions using the cutting edge of commercial technology. Experimentation with these technologies helps Army Futures Command shape requirements, advance effective approaches to innovation, and make the Army a trusted partner for commercial innovators and investors. As part of our mission, we promote innovation best practices by developing DoD problem-solving teams and integrating an expanding pool of best-in-breed commercial solvers. Keeping with this is ultimately why Elementum 3D was selected to move forward with the additive manufacturing project.

The benefits of additive manufacturing (AM) are attractive to many manufacturers, and TAE is one manufacturer taking advantage of these benefits by using AM to produce their thermomechanical components. TAE is a private company founded in 1998 based on research out of the University of California Irvine. The company develops low-carbon energy generation system based upon nuclear fusion. Their proprietary platform called Field-Reversed Configuration (FRC) combines the deepest insights of plasma physics and accelerator physics to heat and stabilize plasma.

As you can imagine, fusion platforms are extremely complex machines and there is an ongoing challenge of controlling the reliability of the hundreds of systems and thousands of components that must work together to face physics and engineering challenges. The thermomechanical components must be free of potential failure points such as welds, brazed joints, and sealed-flanges assemblies, when possible, to optimize their simple, compact design. The ideal solution for TAE to overcome these challenges was to invest their resources in the design power of AM combined with a superior material.

TAE’s initial push towards AM technology was the realization they could benefit from the manufacturing process to incorporate small cooling channels into a particle accelerator grid component. Machining cooling channels is traditionally time consuming, requires a lot of costly development, and doesn’t work with all materials. The TAE team learned a lot from the success of this project and decided to forge ahead with another AM project — print a Plasma Generator anode body, which is not a very complex component, but it incorporates water cooling channels and internal gas injection, plus a final brazing of a CuCrZr cap over a stainless-steel base.

Producing this component conventionally came with hefty prices and a long lead time, and it was not compatible with their project schedule. Therefore, TAE began the project by redesigning the part for AM — consolidating it to one part to remove the potential failure points and incorporating smooth curved channels and organically shaped manifolds connecting to the inlet and outlet. With the optimized design complete and approved for print production, they were ready to move to material and print process selection.

Elementum 3D was introduced to TAE by EOS, a leading laser powder bed Fusion (LPBF) printer manufacturer. A trusting relationship was quickly established between the Engineering Teams. It was an ideal combination of production and technical support for a company like TAE who needs strong industrial partners to build their components. 

“Printing the Plasma Generator anode with Elementum 3D was a great experience. Their deep knowledge of the 3D-printing process, together with a materials expertise, has given us the confidence to pursue other projects with Elementum 3D,” said Vincent Pilard, TAE Project Engineer.

TAE found that the main challenge for this project was selecting the right choice of material. The Plasma Generator anode body was originally composed of two materials (CuCrZr and SS316) but it would now have only one body. TAE’s first choice was to use CuCrZr, based on early-stage AM development and the experience they gained. Elementum 3D engineers proposed GRCop-42 as an alternative material, with a turn-key heat treatment (HIP) solution, ensuring high mechanical strength and thermal conductivity. After having printed and successfully measured the quality of the GRcop-42 samples, TAE decided to use this solution for all their Plasma Generator anode bodies. Since then, it’s a standard material they plan to use in many applications dealing with thermal loads.

Once the testing and prototyping were complete, a successful result was achieved right away. TAE didn’t see any problem with the material or the 3D printed features. After the final machining and cleaning, they assembled the part and ran several tests, and the result was the first successful printing of a 3D-printed functional part to be used in TAE’s fusion experiments.

TAE reported back to us that the project met their expectations in many areas. They not only obtained a more efficient design, but by using AM, they reduced the initial cost and lead time. The transition from conventional machining to a monolithic AM build saved TAE around $10,000 per plasma generator, which includes the cost of chemical cleaning and final machining, both necessary post-processing steps for many (but not all) 3D-printed parts. Therefore, when you consider TAE’s need for four or eight plasma generators per accelerator system, plus spares and test stands, it represents a cost saving of over $800,000 on their Copernicus program — just for this part! Furthermore, this project has paved the road for TAE to save time and money on many future critical parts and applications.

The other benefit they mentioned was establishing a trusted AM partnership with Elementum 3D — one that can contribute to the development of TAE’s advanced designs and ensure high quality manufacturing, within a controlled time and cost frame.

Recently our TAE friends informed us that they will be advancing the design of their water-cooled accelerator grid, with the goal of printing a first prototype by the beginning of 2024.

Impacting other government agencies adoption of AM has been a highlight for Elementum 3D for over seven years.

Recently, Elementum 3D joined the Navy’s SBIR Transition Program (STP) to connect with Navy stakeholders in urgent need of printable high-performance alloys. Ni230-RAM1 is already available for testing and producing real world components!