LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA, (7/2/2020) – AlphaSTAR Corporation (ASC), in collaboration with General Electric
Global Research Center, University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi Center for Advanced Manufacturing,
and University of Michigan (UoM) Aerospace Engineering, is pleased to announce a recent contract awarded
by the Defense Logistics Agency, aimed at improving the mechanical properties and structural performance of AM fabricated metal parts.
AM technology is relatively new to manufacturing and has many hurdles to overcome before
universal adoption as a replacement to traditional manufacturing. As such, there exists an ongoing
challenge to provide out of production parts and maintain mission readiness of various weapons system
platforms. “Grain Boundary Engineering can improve mechanical strain, crack growth and fatigue
properties of the AM part compared to current equiaxed-grain-boundaries in ‘As-Built’ vs. ‘As-Is’ parts,”
says Dr. Rashid Miraj, Director of Technical Operations at AlphaSTAR. “It will yield significant
advancement for the design of DoD supply chain of AM components that are flexible, scalable, and capable
of producing parts which are qualified and more reliable using the current AM practices.”
During the period of performance, the awarded team will establish material performance screening,
selection and improvement of AM driven legacy parts. Development of this critical science will apply to all
DoD sectors looking to improve the quality and reliability of AM parts to assist our Warfighters.