When Steve Storck, chief scientist for manufacturing technologies in APL’s Research and Exploratory Development Department, joined the laboratory in 2015, he identified key limitations in the field. One major barrier to using additive manufacturing across the Department of Defense was materials availability, as each design required specific materials, yet robust processing conditions were lacking for most.
Titanium was one of the few materials that met DoD needs and had been optimized to match or exceed traditional manufacturing performance. The team recognized that expanding the range of materials and refining processing parameters was crucial to fully unlock the potential of additive manufacturing.