America Makes and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) are proud to announce a new open project call funded by the Office of the Under Secretary of War, Acquisition and Sustainment, Industrial Base Analysis Sustainment (IBAS) Program, and the Office of the Under Secretary of War, Manufacturing Technology Office (OSW ManTech) worth a total of $13.2M. The project call, INtegrated System for In-situ Testing & Evaluation (INSITE), aims to establish an integrated additive manufacturing (AM) quality assurance system that unifies in-situ monitoring and post build inspection to strengthen defect detection, advance Department of War (DoW) priorities for more reliable AM qualification, and deliver production-ready capabilities that enhance efficiency, readiness, and competitiveness across the U.S. supply base. One award is anticipated.
This combined in-situ and post-build nondestructive evaluation (NDE) approach aims to improve inspection of some of AM’s most challenging parts, including large components, dense materials, and complex geometries that are difficult to assess using traditional methods. By combining real-time monitoring during production with accelerated post-build inspection and expert oversight, the approach seeks to strengthen quality assurance, support certification, and expand manufacturing capabilities for critical components. Rather than advancing individual sensing or NDE technologies in isolation, the program is focused on developing and demonstrating an integrated quality assurance system that unifies in-situ monitoring and post-build inspection within a certifiable framework.
The INSITE project consists of tasking phases with associated decision gates for each, including:
- Gate 1: Initial integration of sensors into the AM machine and collection of in-situ data.
- Gate 2: Demonstration of in-situ data identifying areas of interest for post-build NDE.
- Gate 3: Correlation of in-situ data with NDE results.