FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VEXTEC Secures AFWERX Phase II Program for Additive Manufacturing

VEXTEC Builds on its Relationships with AFRL and Lockheed Martin for Analytical tools in AM

(BRENTWOOD, Tennessee) – VEXTEC announces it has been selected by AFWERX for a SBIR Phase II award focused on predictive analytics for certification in Additive Manufacturing, to address the most pressing challenges in the Department of the Air Force (DAF). The Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and eliminating bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution. The DAF began offering the Open Topic SBIR/STTR program in 2018 which expanded the range of innovations the DAF funded and now on July 21, 2023, VEXTEC will start its journey to create and provide innovative capabilities that will strengthen the national defense of the United States of America.

“AM processes have struggled to demonstrate sufficient repeatability to be viable options for the creation of primary structures, due to high reliability requirements and testing and certification costs,” noted Dr. Bob Tryon, Chief Technology Officer at VEXTEC. “There has historically been a lack of analytical tools that can handle the variability in AM-produced materials’ mechanical responses when compared with traditional wrought materials. The probabilistic modeling capability of our VPS-MICRO® software, which can integrate structural and materials analyses, is an ideal solution to meet this challenge in AM. We look forward to working with AFRL/RQVS and our OEM partner Lockheed Martin in this program.”

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.

About VEXTEC
VEXTEC Corporation is the home of VPS-MICRO, a unique microstructural fatigue durability prediction software. 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 U.S. patents related to its technology. For more information on VEXTEC and VPS-MICRO software, visit: www.vextec.com.

About Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
Sole organization leading the planning and execution of U.S. Air Force & U.S. Space Force science & technology programs. Orchestrates a world-wide government, industry & academia coalition in the discovery, development & delivery of a wide range of revolutionary technology. Provides leading-edge warfighting capabilities keeping air, space and cyberspace forces the world’s best. Employs 10,800 military, civilian and contractor personnel at 17 research sites executing an annual $4B budget. For more information, visit: www.afresearchlab.com.

About AFWERX
The innovation arm of the DAF and a directorate within AFRL. Brings cutting-edge American ingenuity from small businesses and start-ups to address the most pressing challenges of the DAF. Employs approximately 215 military, civilian and contractor personnel at five hubs and sites executing an annual $1.4B budget. Since 2019, has executed 4,671 contracts worth more than $2B to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and drive faster technology transition to operational capability. For more information, visit: www.afwerx.com.

Company Press Contact:
Michael Oja
Sales and Project Manager
moja@vextec.com

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.