3Degrees Developing AM Materials Database for America Makes

3Degrees, a 3D printing consulting firm, has been awarded funding as part of America Makes’ Rapid Innovation Project Call, which is supported by a $50,000 grant from U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The award enables the team to deploy the traceAM software platform, which will be used to transform America Makes’ data management and analytics capabilities to create a materials database hub for advanced additive manufacturing (AM) research and technologies.

The project will be led by 3Degrees — working in collaboration with Senvol, Northrop Grumman Corp., EOS and Deloitte — to develop a searchable, scalable database built using 3Degrees’ traceAM software.

The project team brings together materials engineers, data specialists and leading consultants working together to customize the traceAM platform to fit the unique needs of America Makes’ members. Specifically, the team has been mandated to deliver a robust system to collect and archive data, which will enable past and future projects to be sorted by key production and technical data. The tool is designed to align with industry best practices and regulatory data requirements, and enables real-time updates to the information captured by the system the industry as standards evolve.

“Because of its unique role within the additive manufacturing ecosystem, America Makes possesses an unparalleled amount of data around materials performance, printing platforms and technical specifications,” says Dr. Mike Vasquez, founder of 3Degrees and principal investigator for the project. “With this work, we’ll deliver a tool that is simple to use and enables users to quickly search, analyze and compare this robust data with a click of a few buttons. We are confident this tool will produce insights that support manufacturing in the United States and benefit all 228 current and future America Makes members.”