SBIR-STTR Award

America’s infrastructure is aging, and in countless instances there is a critical need to address the degradation of structural components before disaster strikes. Two main infrastructure components are bridges and railways. MELD can fabricate or repair unweldable metals, yields wrought properties, is portable, and has significantly lower operating costs than other processes. MELD, formerly known as Additive Friction Stir, is a viable, safe method for field repair of large metallic components.

Sustainment of critical infrastructure systems such as train rail are in need of technologies capable of both repair and retrofit. A technology is not currently in place that is qualified to add material to structural components to either improve underperforming legacy structures or to repair damaged structures that have suffered material loss due to corrosion, erosion, impact, etc. With no approved method of repair, structural components that could otherwise be reworked are instead discarded and replaced with new part(s), placing an unnecessary burden on the supply chain. The MELD process, a novel solid-state additive manufacturing technology, offers a path forward to the qualification of a repair and retrofit process that is compatible with the alloys used to fabricate these structural components and is capable of producing materials that satisfy wrought requirements, both mechanical and chemical, of these alloys. MELD Manufacturing Corporation, working with researchers at Virginia Tech, will demonstrate the MELD process to be capable of both repair and retrofit of real-world full size rail as well as demonstrating a portable robotic MELD system with improved articulation suited for repair at the point of need. In this effort, MELD Manufacturing Corporation will fabricate full scale material sections focused on demonstrating that the deposited materials meet or exceed component requirements for both repair and retrofit applications. The team at Virginia Tech will perform the analysis of the demonstrated repairs and retrofits, providing the data needed by the Army to begin qualifying the MELD process. Additionally, MELD Manufacturing Corporation will build a mufti-axis robotic platform on which the MELD deposition system will be mounted for the purposes of full-scale (in the lab) repair and retrofit of rail. MELD Manufacturing will leverage the expertise of roboticists at Virginia Tech to facilitate the integration of the MELD process with the robotic platform. The advancements in capability, including a more in-depth understanding of the properties of MELD repairs and retrofits as well as a demonstration of a portable, robotic MELD platform, will not only benefit the Army and other branches of service but will also benefit the needs of US based manufacturers in all industries in need of deployable repair and retrofit technologies.