In 2024, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)—an R&D agency of the United States Department of Defense—launched an exciting program related to the military’s use of additive manufacturing. The Structures Uniquely Resolved to Guarantee Endurance (SURGE) program gave applicants a clear challenge: build a system that can predict the lifespan of a 3D printed part in just three days.
The complexity of that challenge lies in the unique microscopic features or defects exhibited by 3D printed parts. These features can vary in location and size—even when exactly the same hardware and materials are used—and provide strong clues as to the longevity of each unique printed part.
The military wants to better understand these defects so it can accelerate the certification process for 3D printed parts. By rapidly predicting part lifespan, the DoD will be able to fabricate parts much more quickly and also justify an increased use of 3D printing in general. (If parts take months or even years to be qualified, the speed advantages of the AM process are nullified and the value of the hardware reduced.)
A year later, we now know the identities of the successful SURGE grantees, who have been awarded $10.3 million between them over a period of four years. Via different approaches, these recipients will work both independently and in collaboration to reduce the current part lifespan evaluation process from around 18 months to three days. Furthermore, they will develop processes that can be performed on ordinary laptops rather than the supercomputers currently required.
Texas A&M plots its course for the DARPA program
One of the successful SURGE grantees is Texas A&M University, which has been awarded $1.6 million of the total allocation. Four engineers from the university will work with 3D print monitoring specialist Addiguru over the first two years of the program to develop an on-printer sensor package for capturing real-time information. Next, the team will develop an AI-driven, high-resolution defect detection system that can read and process data from various sensor sources.
At the same time as these efforts, the Texas A&M team will work with another team based at the University of Michigan, as well as AM simulation specialist AlphaSTAR and standards agency ASTM International. Together, this group will aim to speed up the accurate prediction of microstructural features created during the additive manufacturing process.
“This is an exciting moment for the additive manufacturing field,” said Dr. Mosen Taheri Andani, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Texas A&M. “By integrating in-situ data with the underlying microstructural features formed during printing, the program will bridge expertise in process monitoring, microstructure characterization, and property evaluation—paving the way for faster, more reliable deployment of additive-manufactured parts.”
Besides Andani, the Texas A&M team comprises Dr. Raymundo Arróyave, Chevron Professor (II) of materials science and engineering; Dr. Aala Elwany, professor of industrial and systems engineering; and Dr. Ibrahim Karaman, Chevron Professor and head of the department of materials science and engineering.
“This DARPA project is particularly exciting for us because it represents a unique opportunity to address one of the most critical challenges facing the field today,” said Karaman. “We are confident that this work will have a transformative impact on industry and help unlock the full potential of additive manufacturing at scale.”
