VEXTEC is honored to present at this year’s ASTM International Conference on Advanced Manufacturing (ICAM 2023), held October 30 – November 3 2023 in Washington D.C. VEXTEC’s CTO Dr. Bob Tryon is speaking on “Computational Fatigue Models to Assist in Risk-Based Certification of Additively Manufactured Metallic Parts” on November 1 at 4:00pm ET.

The presentation focuses on physics-based models to provide predictive analytics for certification in Additive Manufacturing (AM). The models integrate computational material engineering to simulate the costliest aspects of AM certification testing, reducing test repeats and significantly lowering the cost of certification. Statistical distributions of properties including microstructure, voids and surface roughness are used in the modeling, as well as structural finite element analysis and Monte Carlo techniques to simulate fatigue of a large population of components with complex loading. Simulated fatigue results are compared to laboratory fatigue testing data, and a standard work protocol is created for AM replacement of an aircraft engine throttle linkage component, and AM repair of foreign object damage to an aircraft engine airfoil.

More information on ASTM ICAM 2023: https://amcoe.org/event/icam2023/

More information on VEXTEC’s VPS-MICRO® commercial software for AM fatigue performance prediction: https://vextec.com/additive-manufacturing/

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.

The work emphasized the fact that metal additive manufacturing techniques produce material microstructures that have such wide variation in properties that they cannot be appropriately modeled by deterministic approaches. Instead, they must be represented probabilistically in order to effectively characterize the nature of AM-processed materials. VPS-MICRO accounts for this variability using probabilistic material models and computationally-efficient simulation.

For more information on these presentations and published proceedings, see the links below:

Aircraft Structural Integrity Program (ASIP) Conference, Dec. 2021: “Fatigue Analysis of Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) Ti-6Al-4V”

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Science and Technology Forum and Exposition (SciTech), Jan. 2022: “Fatigue Analysis of Additive Manufacturing Materials with Microstructural Properties”

Watch the webinar on the America Makes YouTube page

If the terms Metal Additive Manufacturing, AM, 3D Printing, ICME, Computational Fatigue Modeling resonate with you, we are interested in speaking with you.

Selected as America’s Most Promising Company by Forbes Magazine, VEXTEC is the developer and provider of VPS-MICRO® software as a SaaS model. We help our clients to save time and money by accelerating push for Additive Manufacturing (AM) into standard production & reducing physical testing burden for qualification of new materials/sources.  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.

If you are interested in joining a small business with a dedicated team that is at the cutting edge of computational material science developing software to revolutionize Metal AM, please apply.

Qualified candidates for the position will have the following requirements and skills:

• Engineering graduates that have a M.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering (Civil, Mechanical, BME, Material Science degrees are preferred).
• Aptitude and demonstrated ability to write engineering code in Fortran, Python, C# is very desirable.
• Experience in structural mechanics or fracture mechanics.
• Knowledge of probabilistic methods and statistics.
• Knowledge of finite element modeling and analysis. Deep familiarity and experience with commercial finite element software such as ANSYS, Abaqus, Nastran will be an asset.
• Self-motivated with the ability to pick up new analytical skills.

Employment with VEXTEC offers competitive salaries and a flexible work environment, as well as a comprehensive benefits package.

VEXTEC Corporation provides software, technical expertise and services in the areas of component, system, and fleet durability.  In collaboration with our client companies, we utilize VPS-MICRO to help make better products and resolve in-service durability and reliability issues.

To apply for a career at VEXTEC, please send your cover letter and resume to hr@vextec.com.

Our CTO Dr. Robert Tryon presents “Computational Simulation of Fatigue Failure Risk for Additive Manufactured Metal Structures” on Wednesday, January 20 in a joint session of Nondestructive Analysis and Materials (NDA-15/MAT-19) titled “Realizing ICME, Including UQ and Experimental Validation”.

This presentation will discuss a computational fatigue prediction software to simulate additive manufactured (AM) metal products to determine the risk of fatigue failure of the product. An integrated computational material engineering (ICME) toolset in the software uses probabilistic microstructural crack nucleation and small flaw fracture mechanics to predict the effects of microstructural features on the various stage of cyclic damage accumulation. Traditional structural finite element methods are used to model the stresses in the product. Microstructure, defects and surface roughness are all modeled within a random field throughout the product. In-process monitoring provides increased confidence in the random field parameters of each part; i.e. a digital twin. The fatigue model captures the interaction of the stress with the microstructure, defects and surface roughness to predict the probability of a crack nucleating and growing to failure at each location in the product. Extensive laboratory work has been performed to calibrate and validate these models. This computational solution to determine fatigue risk and predict product durability has the potential to greatly advance the usage of AM technology. The abilities to rapidly design, prototype, and certify AM parts also have the potential to save significant time in development schedules.

UPDATE: The archived webinar is now available on the America Makes YouTube page.

To efficiently use metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) to produce structural components, it is essential to have a robust protocol and software tool to certify the parts, especially if they are fatigue critical. With the objective of accelerating the qualification and adoption processes for new AM materials, VEXTEC’s webinar presents a method for augmenting the traditional verification process with a model-informed software tool called VPS-MICRO®.

VEXTEC’s VPS-MICRO is an Integrated Computational Materials 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 process. Also, the software greatly reduces the test cost and time needed to determine the statistical confidence in the certified lifetime, reducing the need to acquire a large population of fatigue tests needed to do the same.

VEXTEC Presenters Include:
Bob Tryon (Chief Technology Officer)
Animesh Dey (Chief Product Development Officer)
Michael Oja (Sales & Project Manager)

About America Makes
Driven by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), America Makes is the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute. As the national accelerator for additive manufacturing (AM) based in Youngstown, Ohio, America Makes is the nation’s leading and collaborative partner in AM and 3DP technology research, discovery, creation, and innovation. Comprised of member organizations from industry, academia, government, non-government agencies, and workforce and economic development resources, the America Makes membership community is working together to innovate and accelerate AM to increase our nation’s global manufacturing competitiveness. America Makes is the first of eight Manufacturing Innovation Institutes established and managed by the U.S. Department of Defense as public-private partnerships. America Makes is also a member of the Manufacturing USA® network, which seeks to secure U.S. global leadership in advanced manufacturing. For more information about America Makes, visit americamakes.us and follow @AmericaMakes on Twitter.

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/