FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Brentwood, TN, December 05, 2022 – AFWERX – the innovation arm of the US Department of the Air Force (DAF) – has selected VEXTEC for a new Phase I SBIR program, intended to create greater visibility within the DAF for its computational predictive software, VPS-MICRO^®.  The software tool enables risk-based certification of parts by predicting failure characteristics from microstructural data. The 3-month program focuses on identifying strong potential customer leads for proven, innovative technology throughout the Air Force and Space Force.

The overall mission of AFWERX and its AFVentures division is to fill capability gaps for the DAF and to transition promising technologies at scale. Phase I SBIR awardees are placed in a cohort which provides them with Air Force resources and tools to facilitate meaningful interactions between small businesses and Air Force customers and end-users. VEXTEC’s VPS-MICRO software for Additive Manufacturing (AM) was a differentiating factor in awarding the Phase I program.

“The Department of the Air Force is a very large customer for many small businesses like ours,” noted Dr. Bob Tryon, Chief Technology Officer at VEXTEC. “We are excited to use this opportunity to reach out to DoD groups organized under the DAF, and inform them about our Digital Engineering solution for analyzing performance of critical metallic components in their platforms. And as metal AM continues to gain momentum, the need for techniques to aid in certification of AM parts will only increase.”

About VEXTEC:

VEXTEC Corporation is the home of VPS-MICRO, a unique microstructural fatigue durability prediction software based on ICME (Integrated Computational Materials Engineering). This technology fills a gap in the existing capabilities provided by CAD/CAM, FEA, statistical modeling, and physical material and component testing, by effectively integrating them into a single computational processing framework. Since 2000, VEXTEC has provided predictive analytics prognostics and life extension capabilities for hundreds of different products. VEXTEC’s clients include leading multinationals in the aerospace, automotive, electronics, energy, heavy industry and medical device manufacturing sectors, as well as many federal government agencies. VEXTEC has seven US patents related to its technology. For more information on VEXTEC and VPS-MICRO software, visit: http://vextec.com.

VEXTEC is honored to be part of this year’s JANNAF Liquid Propulsion Subcommittee (LPS) Advanced Materials Panel (AMP) Additive Manufacturing for Propulsion Applications Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) in Huntsville, AL. VEXTEC (supported by Aerojet Rocketdyne) presented results from a recent SBIR program that developed an additive manufacturing certification framework for Air Force applications, with the objective of accelerating the qualification and adoption process for new additive manufactured materials, augmenting the traditional verification process with a model-informed software tool called VPS-MICRO^®.   The purpose of the JANNAF (Joint Army, Navy, NASA Air Force) is to promote and facilitate exchange of technical and programmatic information among the Military Departments, Defense Agencies,

NASA, U.S. industry and academia; to establish standards; to effect coordination and avoid unnecessary duplication of basic research, applied research, advanced technology development, advanced component development and prototypes, and system development and demonstration programs in the areas of missile, gun, and space propulsion and energetics; to accomplish problem solving in areas of joint interest; and to support collaboration to maintain and strengthen the domestic rocket propulsion industrial base.

The VEXTEC developed software, VPS-MICRO, is an Integrated Computational Material Engineering (ICME) based tool that predicts the risk of cyclic fatigue failure of an additive manufactured metal part based on the location specific microstructure, defects, residual stress and surface roughness. Using the software eliminates unsuccessful design options early in the design processes. Also, the software greatly reduces the test cost and time needed to determine the statistical confidence in the certified lifetime instead of having to acquire a large population of fatigue tests needed to do the same.

Brentwood, TN, October 10, 2022 – The United States Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office (USAF RSO) has signed-on for a yearlong Phase III program with VEXTEC Corporation. The Phase III program will deploy VEXTEC’s VPS-MICRO computational predictive software to USAF engineering teams at the forefront of metal additive manufacturing (AM) for critical sustainment activities.

VEXTEC’s successful SBIR Phase II AM program with RSO, born out of an open call Pitch Day solicitation, catalyzed USAF interest in predicting risk of fatigue failure of AM metal parts. A demonstration project at the close of Phase II was coordinated between VEXTEC and Air Force Life Cycle Management Center – Propulsion Directorate (AFLCMC/LP) at Tinker Air Force Base. VPS-MICRO was able to provide quantitative predictive capabilities, that gave engineers and managers actionable information before any AM parts were even built.

“The Air Force wants to develop more digital tools to be able to take full advantage of the potential AM can provide,” stated Dr. Bob Tryon, VEXTEC Chief Technology Officer. “This Phase III program is structured such that, not only will VPS-MICRO be delivered to engineers who specialize in risk assessment, but standard work protocols will effectively integrate this technology into the teams’ workflows at Tinker. This will give the Air Force additional resource support to additively manufacture their own metal parts.”

The ultimate goal of the Phase III is to highlight how digital predictive tools can complement existing testing schemes, to accelerate risk prediction and alternative material qualification for new and legacy components that utilize AM.

About VEXTEC:

VEXTEC Corporation is the home of VPS-MICRO®, a unique microstructural fatigue durability prediction software based on ICME (Integrated Computational Materials Engineering). This technology fills a gap in the existing capabilities provided by CAD/CAM, FEA, statistical modeling, and physical material and component testing, by effectively integrating them into a single computational processing framework. Since 2000, VEXTEC has provided predictive analytics prognostics and life extension capabilities for hundreds of different products. VEXTEC’s clients include leading multinationals in the aerospace, automotive, electronics, energy, heavy industry and medical device manufacturing sectors, as well as many federal government agencies. VEXTEC has seven US patents related to its technology. For more information on VEXTEC and VPS-MICRO software, visit: http://vextec.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Brentwood, TN, October 10, 2022 – VEXTEC Corporation was awarded a sole source contract from the U.S. Navy to expand its Corrosion Cracking Maintenance Prediction Software (CCMPS). CCMPS is used by the Navy to predict the future maintenance needs for aluminum (5000 series) ship structures.

The U.S. Navy is tasked with extending the lifetime of certain naval vessels by 5-10 years at full mission capability, however, they have been challenged by stress corrosion cracking of their aluminum ship structures which impacts maintenance schedules. That’s where CCMPS comes into play. The Navy uses CCMPS to simulate inspection schedules of their aluminum fleet resulting in a “Time-to-Repair” prediction. This software capability gives the Navy a way to turn actual data in to actionable data which they can use to improve maintenance planning schedules.

Under this contract, VEXTEC will add new capabilities and technology to the software enabling the Navy to continue using CCMPS for years to come. “In the current CCMPS scheme, each ship location of the fleet is simulated individually and the next doesn’t begin until the prior has finished,” said, Dr. Animesh Dey, VEXTEC’s Chief Product Development Officer, “VEXTEC will be implementing a multi-threading method in the software; this will allow multiple locations to be simulated in tandem and compiled at the end once all ship locations of the digital fleet have completed the simulation.” These upgrades will reduce the overall time it takes to run a model benefiting the Navy’s condition-based maintenance needs which is essential to their overall mission.

About VEXTEC:

VEXTEC Corporation works with both federal & commercial clients across many industries to provide fatigue prediction software based on ICME (Integrated Computational Materials Engineering) to predict product durability. This unique software, VPS-MICRO, fills a gap in the existing capabilities provided by CAD/CAM, FEA, statistical modeling, and physical material and component testing by effectively integrating them into a single computational processing framework. VEXTEC has seven US patents related to its technology. For more information on VEXTEC and VPS-MICRO software, visit: http://vextec.com.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn., April 28, 2020—VEXTEC^® Corporation in Nashville, TN, has been awarded a small business innovative research (SBIR) contract, supported by Aerojet Rocketdyne, to develop an additive manufacturing certification framework for Air Force applications, with the objective of accelerating the qualification and adoption process for new additive manufactured materials, augmenting the traditional verification process with a model-informed software tool called VPS-MICRO^®.

The VEXTEC developed software, VPS-MICRO, is an Integrated Computational Material Engineering (ICME) based tool that predicts the risk of cyclic fatigue failure of an additive manufactured metal part based on the location specific microstructure, defects, residual stress and surface roughness. Using the software eliminates unsuccessful design options early in the design processes. Also, the software greatly reduces the test cost and time needed to determine the statistical confidence in the certified lifetime instead of having to acquire a large population of fatigue tests needed to do the same.

“We are leveraging real word data we’ve collected like fatigue strength and microstructure to create a digital model that can be used to predict the critical fatigue failure points of a component and simulate how surface features affect overall component strength,” said Dan Matejczyk,  Materials and Process Engineer,  Aerojet Rocketdyne. “The goal is to have a mix of physical test data combined with virtual data to accelerate the qualification process. Aerojet Rocketdyne will provide years of historical test data and VEXTEC will provide the software modeling capability.”

Rapid and reliable part qualification is necessary for additive manufactured components to realize their potential benefits. However, variability in microstructure and surface features may be significant, and must be managed for assured reliability. This program’s certification framework, methods and tools will assure component performance and reliability while enabling additive manufacturing schedule and cost advantages.

Aerojet Rocketdyne, a leader in additive manufacturing for more than a decade, will support VEXTEC in incorporating the additive manufacturing certification with computational fatigue models into a standard work process.

Jeff Haynes, Additive Manufacturing Program Manager at Aerojet Rocketdyne, noted that “With regard to additive manufacturing, we need to answer questions like: Where does modeling fit into the certification process? What is the best mix of analysis and testing? What are viable near-term solutions and what are the long-term goals for computationally enhanced certification processes that will be useful in the broader aerospace industry to produce highly-reliable parts.”

VEXTEC’s SBIR technology transition plan (STTP) for its current Phase II work involves further maturing of its VPS-MICRO software to a higher Technology Readiness Level (TRL) through validation testing, and working with Aerojet Rocketdyne and the company’s DoD partners. This maturation beyond the Phase II level intends to focus on computational predictive modeling of additive manufactured parts in order to meet the Air Force’s needs in process development, vendor qualification/process control, and airworthiness certification.

“We feel that VEXTEC’s VPS-MICRO: additive manufacturing software can be an integral tool in this effort because it represents the integration of additive manufacturing process modeling with performance prediction to provide a better tool for certification. Having Aerojet Rocketdyne’s keen interest will assure the process will interface with the commercial engineering practice,” noted Dr. Bob Tryon, VEXTEC’s President and CTO.

About Aerojet Rocketdyne:
Aerojet Rocketdyne, a subsidiary of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AJRD), is a world-recognized aerospace and defense leader that provides propulsion systems and energetics to the space, missile defense and strategic systems, and tactical systems areas, in support of domestic and international customers. For more information, visit www.Rocket.com and www.AerojetRocketdyne.com. Follow Aerojet Rocketdyne and CEO Eileen Drake on Twitter at @AerojetRdyne and @DrakeEileen.

About VEXTEC:

VEXTEC Corporation has a unique microstructural fatigue durability prediction software based on ICME (Integrated Computational Materials Engineering) to predict long-term product durability. This technology fills a gap in the existing capabilities provided by CAD/CAM, FEA, statistical modeling, and physical material and component testing, by effectively integrating them into a single computational processing framework. VEXTEC’s clients include leading multinationals in the aerospace, automotive, electronics, energy, heavy industry and medical device manufacturing sectors, as well as many federal government agencies. VEXTEC has also received several grants from the United States Department of Defense through its Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR/STTR) programs. VEXTEC has been granted seven patents related to its technology.

For more information, visit: https://vextec.com/

BRENTWOOD, Tenn., April 3, 2019 – VEXTEC has received enhancement funding to its Phase II SBIR Award from the United States Air Force (USAF), to validate computational physics-based fracture mechanics methods. The USAF recognizes the benefit of such methods over traditional linear elastic fracture mechanics: significant reduction in errors and uncertainty in life prediction. Presence of these uncertainties usually result in unreliability or excessive conservatism for designs, when new materials are implemented. VEXTEC’s methods, developed in Phase II, use the actual size of initial flaws and accurately calculate the cycles needed to grow to failure. This is accomplished by applying probabilistic, physics-based fatigue crack growth models that will be validated under this program. VEXTEC will gather laboratory test data required to develop the inputs to the models. An independent set of tests will be performed for comparison with the model predictions. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company is working with VEXTEC to assure the method will interface with standard design practices. Lockheed will also compare the results with their own data.

“We are excited about the continuation of this work with the USAF,” says Mr. Michael Oja, VEXTEC’s Sales Manager, “it allows us to further define VEXTEC’s standard work processes, including the type of laboratory data required to create and validate the models. We are employing a commercial test vendor to perform the testing based on ASTM test methods. This will standardize the tests and help determine the testing costs to create valid, microstructural-based computational fatigue and fracture mechanics models.”

According to Dr. Robert Tryon, the Principal Investigator on this project and VEXTEC CTO, “This project is putting integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) into practice. The time and cost required to create a valid ICME-based fatigue model can be compared to the time and cost of traditional empirical methods which perform cyclic tests on many, many specimens. There is a broad benefit of this technology in industries such as Aerospace, Automotive, Energy and Medical Devices. VEXTEC sees the generation of significant potential value when designing with a new material, or when standard materials are being used at the bounds of the normal design envelope.”

About VEXTEC

Founded in 2000, VEXTEC Corporation is the home of VPS-MICRO, a unique microstructural fatigue durability prediction software based on ICME (Integrated Computational Materials Engineering). This technology fills a gap in the existing capabilities provided by CAD/CAM, FEA, statistical modeling, and physical material and component testing, by effectively integrating them into a single computational processing framework. VEXTEC’s clients include leading multinationals in the aerospace, automotive, electronics, energy, heavy industry and medical device manufacturing sectors, as well as many federal government agencies. VEXTEC has received over $25 million in development funding from US Department of Defense Innovative Research programs, and has been granted seven patents related to its technology.

For more information, visit: http://vextec.com