America Makes launches two project calls totaling $14.5m
Defense-focused funding targets qualification gaps and high-strength aluminum alloys for laser powder bed fusion systems
America Makes and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) have launched two project calls worth a combined $14.5 million in funding, both backed by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Manufacturing Technology Office (OSD ManTech).
The first project call, named Delta Qual 2.0, carries a $9m weighting in funding and targets additive manufacturing qualification challenges across the Defense Industrial Base (DIB). The initiative works to reduce testing requirements, strengthen machine installation standards, and increase flexibility for processing parameters. Its primary objective is to support the Department of War’s (DoW) objectives for cost-effective advanced manufacturing solutions tied to national security.
The project covers three topic areas: establishing measurement and calibration procedures for LPBF subsystems to enable event-based requalification with minimal mechanical testing; creating a qualification framework that allows parameter variation within defined process bounds without triggering requalification; and forming a “Red Team” of industry, academic, and government subject matter experts to advise funded teams and facilitate the transition of outcomes into broader industry use.
“Modernizing qualification for advanced manufacturing is essential to maintaining our defense readiness,” said John Martin, Additive Manufacturing Research Director at America Makes. “This project lays the groundwork for a more agile, trusted, and scalable manufacturing ecosystem, ensuring we can deliver mission-critical parts faster and with greater confidence for decades to come.”
Qualifying a high-strength aluminum alloy for multi-format LPBF systems
The second project call, Generation of Technical-data for High-strength Aluminum Alloy Material (GOTHAAM), will receive $5.5m and focuses on developing material allowables for a 7075-T73-equivalent aluminum alloy across small, medium, and large-format LPBF systems. The effort builds on prior programs, including the Joint Metal Additive Database Definition (JMADD) and Generation of Additive Material Allowables for Ti-6Al-4V (GAMAT).
Key priorities include characterizing intergranular corrosion resistance, stress-corrosion cracking behavior, and fatigue-crack growth performance to support long-life structural defense applications.
The project will run in two phases. Phase 0 will establish baseline feedstock and process requirements, followed by Phase 1, which will generate Metallic Materials Properties Development and Standardization (MMPDS)-compliant material allowables across machine classes, to confirm machine-to-machine equivalency.
“Qualifying advanced AM materials like this alloy directly strengthens the Defense Industrial Base,” said Martin. “By delivering validated data and maturing LPBF capability, we’re giving U.S. manufacturers what they need to produce reliable components for critical defense systems.”
