AFRL, Partners Develop Innovative Tools to Accelerate Composites Certification

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February 11, 2020 | Originally published by Date Line: February 11 on

In partnership with industry, a team of U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory/Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) personnel are developing the capability to accelerate certification of advanced manufactured composite structures.

Creating a new materials characterization subfacility, known as the Materials Solutions Network, will drive composite manufacturing into a physics-based exact science that can be predicted and modeled in ways impossible until now, allowing faster implementation of low-cost, short-term, and limited-life technologies.

The newly upgraded CHESS facility will allow breakthroughs in materials, processes, and designs for aerospace and military components. The ability to process material models faster than ever will enable shorter times toward certification of new materials and difficult processing methods, such as additive manufacturing.