The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) has released a white paper that highlights the numerous initiatives it oversees that have resulted in rapid advances in the capabilities, performance, and impact of additive manufacturing (AM). Through exploring several recent technology innovation projects, the paper establishes how NCMS is supporting the technical foundation needed to transition AM from a technology useful for individual, custom-designed parts into a scalable manufacturing and supply-chain capability for the defense industrial base and the broader US manufacturing sector.

The white paper, “Recent Advances in Additive Manufacturing Accelerated through NCMS Initiatives,” details three broad areas of achievement:

• Advancing AM methods, processes, and materials
• Improving upon AM’s repeatability, performance, and quality assurance
• Transforming the impact AM has on manufacturing and sustainment of high-value assets

As the paper states in its conclusion, “By continuing to advance AM capabilities, establish confidence in component quality and performance, and demonstrate operational impact, NCMS is helping move additive manufacturing from individual technology demonstrations toward a trusted and scalable manufacturing capability.”

To read and download the complete white paper, please fill out the form below. To see NCMS’s past white paper releases, visit the NCMS White Paper Archive.