YSU gets $2.3M for hybrid manufacturing

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State University will receive a $2.3 million research and development award from the Air Force Research Laboratory to create a hub-and-spoke consortium on hybrid manufacturing.

The consortium includes the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (the managing organization for Youngstown-based America Makes) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, among others, and will focus on further advancing work to fabricate, inspect and repair metallic machine parts, molds and dies, as well as defense components.

“This award is yet another reflection of YSU’s continued national leadership in advanced manufacturing,” Pedro Cortes, YSU associate professor of Chemical Engineering, said. “This project will address real world, industrially relevant applications by transforming the manner in which new metal structures are fabricated and repaired.”

The project includes the purchase and installation of a 3D printing laser hot wire cladding Direct Energy Deposition Mazak system at YSU’s new Excellence Training Center. YSU is one of only three institutions nationwide utilizing the Mazak system, said Jackie Ruller, YSU director of Advanced Manufacturing Research and Commercial Projects.

The system will provide a hybrid printing technology that combines the benefits of additive manufacturing with that of subtractive manufacturing, Cortes said.

The technology requires less energy usage than conventional processing, allowing it to create geometrically complex and lightweight products that were not previously possible, he said.

The project will leverage multiple hybrid systems at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Manufacturing Demonstration Facility and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Also supporting the project is the University of Texas at El Paso and the Youngstown Business Incubator.

At YSU, the project will be led by Cortes and Ruller, as well as faculty members Brian Vuksanovich, Holly Martin and Kyunsong Choo.

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