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DARPA's PRIME Project Enhances Military 3D Printing Reliability

3D Printing

Business Honor
16 April, 2025

Advanced sensors and digital twins bring real-time assurance to 3D-printed military parts in field.

A new DARPA-funded project will change the future of 3D printing in military logistics, providing real-time quality control for metal parts manufactured in distant or high-risk environments. The Predictive Real-Time Intelligence for Metal Endurance (PRIME) project, which is headed by the University of Michigan, aims to solve one of the largest problems with laser powder bed fusion (LPBF): achieving consistent durability on various machines and builds.

In contrast to conventional manufacturing, LPBF is capable of yielding different results based on printer model, laser parameters, and scanning techniques. Such variability poses risks to defects in the microstructure, impacting the reliability of mission-critical components. PRIME aims to counteract this by generating a "digital twin" of every part—taking live sensor readings while printing to mimic future wear and tear under stress.

The project is undertaken by several partners, including Texas A&M University, Addiguru, AlphaSTAR, and the ASTM Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence. Addiguru's suite of sensors, comprising optical, infrared, and even acoustic sensors originally developed to identify birdsong, will detect flaws as tiny as 0.025 millimeters in real time. Those observations will inform go/no-go decisions throughout the build process.

In the meantime, microstructure and fatigue life simulation by University of Michigan and AlphaSTAR will assist in simulating the impact of defects on long-term part performance. Auburn University will confirm these predictions with aggressive stress testing.

If successful, PRIME would make affordable, distributed manufacturing of long-lived parts possible, allowing military units to 3D-print with confidence in the field. As lead researcher Veera Sundararaghavan describes it, "It's like giving 3D printing a crystal ball—predicting the lifetime of LPBF parts across platforms."