UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), key SEAMTN partners, have unique expertise, facilities, equipment, and capabilities applicable to machine tools. These tools shape or form parts made of metal, polymers, ceramics, and composites through both material removal (milling, turning, drilling, and grinding) and material addition (wire, powder, or pellet deposition).
Machine tools enable prototyping and production operations for most manufactured products—virtually all commercial and defense manufacturers need them. Moreover, in its FY20 Industrial Capabilities Report to Congress, DoD identified machine tools as a critical manufacturing sector that is experiencing declining capacity in the US.
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In cooperation with the America’s Cutting Edge program, a DoD Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment-supported program being executed by the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), ORNL, and UT, SEAMTN proposes to:
- Address several risks and issues DoD has identified in the machine tool sector, such as costly innovation and a shrinking workforce
- Develop and deploy technologies that increase productivity and efficiency of current machining operations through modeling, measurement, and data-driven optimization
- Create novel processes and control algorithms to enable hybrid manufacturing (deposition + measurement + removal, either in a sequential or iterative approach) of components with prescribed mechanical properties, geometric tolerances, and surface finish
- Integrate metrology instruments and digital twin modeling to improve accuracy and throughput for large components
- Design and implement a novel training regimen for computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing capabilities.