Team Consisting of Stress Engineering Services, Origin, and nTopology have placed 1st in the USAF F-16 Approval Sprint Challenge

Oct. 26, 2020, the United States Airforce Rapid Sustainment Office has announced that the team consisting of Stress Engineering Services, Origin, and nTopology was awarded 1st place in the F-1 Approval Sprint Challenge. The announcement took place during the USAF RSO Advanced Manufacturing Olympics, which is a virtual four-day event held last week that includes five Technical Challenges focused on additive manufacturing and reverse engineering.

The goal of the F-1 Approval Sprint technical challenge was to identify innovative strategies for rapid design, qualification, and deployment of sustainment solutions which leverage new manufacturing materials, processes, and components.

The winning team, which designed, analyzed, tested, and manufactured a multi-material F-16 hydraulic tube clamp, beat out stiff competition from 8 other teams from companies from National Institute for Aviation Research, Stratasys, and Markforged. The requirements for the challenge were quite complex and looked at dimensional accuracy, stresses/loads, flammability compliance, temperature ratings (low and high), jet fuel exposure, vibration tolerance, hydraulic fluid exposure, and engine oil exposure. The part submitted by the team for this challenge was designed on nTopology software, uses Loctite 3955, a flame-retardant chemically resistant material from Henkel, is manufactured on the Origin One 3D printer, and validated by Stress Engineering Services using an advanced rapid digital qualification process.

Image via Stress Engineering Servies

Matt Sanders, Stress Engineering Services team leader commented, “We were extremely grateful for the opportunity to participate in this challenge with Origin and nTopology. They are two outstanding companies on the cutting edge of AM technology. Our team was able to find ways to collaborate and be innovative together virtually during this challenging pandemic.”

“We look forward to working with the Airforce Research Laboratory and the Airforce Life Cycle Management Center to build out official Technical Data Package for an increasing amount of 3D printed parts,” said Chris Prucha, co-founder and CEO at Origin.

“We are honored and humbled by our first-place finish in the Approval Sprint Technical Challenge for the Advanced Manufacturing Olympics,” said Dr. Ryan O’Hara, Technical Director of Aerospace and Defense at nTopology. “Working alongside stellar teams at Origin and Stress Engineering Services proved to be both easy and rewarding. This is proof that combining all areas of expertise: design, analysis, and manufacturing can lead to unprecedented innovation and product design.”

Source: Stress Engineering Services