A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | M A Y / J U N E 2 0 2 2 7 PROCESS TECHNOLOGY NEW ACRC FOUNDRY AND LABS The University of California, Irvine (UCI), completed construction of a state-of-the-art metal processing facility for the Advanced Casting Research Center (ACRC) and opened the doors in March. The new foundry and lab include a high-tech vacuum melting system, complete Spectro lab for chemical analysis, digital image correlation system, an Olympus microscopy suite, x-ray computed tomography, a laser powder bed fusion system, and more. Alan Luo, Director of Lightweight Materials and Manufacturing Research Lab at The Ohio State University who attended the opening, comments, “The new ACRC facility has the state-of-theart equipment and lab space for research and development in advanced metal casting and digital manufacturing. It’s a one-of-its-kind center in the United States for fostering industry- academia collaboration, which is indis- Space-based fabrication would leverage native cislunar materials mined and processed in space whenever possible, incorporating advanced materials and components developed on and transported from Earth when necessary. NOM4D’s goal of pioneering offEarth manufacturing maximizes stability, agility, resiliency, and adaptability of space systems. In three 18-month phases, the programwill tackle increasingly challenging concepts. Phase 1 calls for materials and designs that meet stringent structural efficiency targets. Phase 2 will focus on risk reduction and technical maturation. Phase 3 calls for a leap in precision to enable infrared reflective structures that can be used in a segmented long-wave infra- red telescope. Ground-based fabrication of subscale exemplar structures—as opposed to the full structures—will be used to vali- date advanced NOM4D materials, manufacturing capabilities, and design concepts. Importantly, technologies must be designed to survive and maintain precise operation during potentially destructive events, such as lunar storms and micrometeorite impacts. jhuapl.edu. ACRC is nowwell established at UCI, joining its other materials research centers. pensable for the metals and manufacturing sectors in the nation.” acrc.manufacturing. uci.edu. MANUFACTURING IN SPACE In late 2021, DARPA launched its Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials and Mass-efficient Design (NOM4D, pronounced “nomad”) program to develop foundational materials, processes, and designs needed to manufacture large, precise, and resilient systems in space. Specifically, the program focuses on the design of spacebased systems too large to be built on Earth and launched. These structures will have features that enable them to withstand maneuvers, thermal cycles, and physical damage typical of space and lunar environments. With a history of successful DARPA collaborations, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., was chosen to evaluate the operational potential of future adaptive, large-scale, spacebased manufacturing. To address the wide-ranging technical challenges presented by NOM4D, the APL assembled a team of scientists and engineers with deep expertise in materials science, physics, lunar geology, optical sensing, power systems, spacecraft engineering, cislunar space, and more. A successful NOM4D program would truly mark a paradigm shift in manufacturing space structures. BRIEF Wauseon Machine and Manufacturing Inc., Wauseon, Ohio, a provider of robotics automation, tube fabrication equipment, and build-to-print precision machined parts, acquired McAlister Design and Automation LLC, Greenville, S.C., a leading robotics systems integrator. McAlister’s four facilities total 48,000 sq. ft., adding significantly more capacity for automation projects. wauseonmachine.com. NOM4D-enabled future concept. Courtesy of Johns Hopkins APL.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTYyMzk3NQ==