A Path Forward for Integrated Computational Materials Engineering in Support of Additive Manufacturing at NASA

Additive manufacturing (AM) is being investigated aggressively by NASA for manufacturing of complex components for mission critical applications because of the potential for significant cost and schedule reductions. In addition, AM techniques allow the development of complicated design features and compositionally graded materials, and enable a level of design flexibility that is not attainable with other manufacturing methods. However, realization of the potential benefits of AM currently depends almost exclusively on time consuming and costly experimental approaches that negatively impact NASA missions. Integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) has the potential to reduce this reliance on experimental approaches, reducing the development and certification timelines, allowing the inherent advantages of AM to be more fully exploited, and thereby positively impacting next-generation materials and structures. Future material designers will be able to specify required performance metrics and use ICME-based methods to determine the composition and processing parameters needed to achieve them. Development of the underlying processing-microstructure-performance relationships will be critical to the development of the materials systems needed to achieve NASA's mission goals. In the future, ICME-based methods will enable: Discovery and Design of new engineering material concepts that contribute to improved system performance, while reducing the cost and time to develop new vehicles for NASA's missions. New computational methods that support development of new materials, processing and manufacturing methods to the point they can be transitioned to industry and NASA's operations centers. Foundational understanding that underpins new capabilities for certification and sustainment of legacy and future aerospace vehicles. In this presentation, we will discuss a possible vision for ICME at NASA, including current and future requirements and potential mission impact. In addition, a proposed ICME capability framework for NASA will be presented including current capabilities, as well as a proposed path forward for development of the required computational and experimental expertise.