Att C - SOW (7-25).pdf

Statement of Work

Design, Fabrication and Integration of Metal Powder Handling System

July 25, 2025

Introduction

UT-Battelle (UTB), operating contractor for Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), seeks to contract with a qualified and capable source to work collaboratively with ORNL staff to equip and make operational a post-atomization Powder Handling System (PHS) to support a new metal powder atomization facility currently being planned for installation at ORNL in Oak Ridge, TN.

Background and Scope of Work

UTB is planning to install and operate a facility to produce specialty metal powder of unique, varying compositions in quantities suitable for Research and Development and prototyping using additive manufacturing processes. Metal powder from the facility will be used at government, university and commercial research and prototyping centers as well as other locations within ORNL. Powder will be produced by gas atomization using high-purity inert gas, collected from the Atomizer in batches of approximately 100 Kg in an intermediate bulk containers (IBC) of approximately 30 L volume and transferred to an H-3 Hazardous Occupancy-rated enclosure for further processing. UTB has developed a conceptual design for PHS operations which include sieving, blending, and product packaging. All operations are intended to maintain metal powder in an inert argon atmosphere with introduction of oxygen only for controlled passivation. Product will be packaged and shipped in containers of about 10 Kg certified for over-the-road transport.

The core tenets of UTB’s project to make and handle metal powder are operational safety and product quality. To this end, containment of the powder in an inert atmosphere, allowing only intentional, controlled passivation, safe and effective process-to-process transfer and integration of all process steps are key objectives.

UTB has performed a Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA) as required by NFPA 484 (7.2.1). The DHA serves to identify and evaluate hazards, assess risks, and identify the engineered and administrative controls necessary to mitigate the dust hazard associated with the storage, handling, and use of combustible metal powders.

The DHA is attached to this RFP to communicate definition, description, specification and guidance governing the intended outcome of a safe and effective operating system. The DHA identifies all PHS components and defines facility engineering controls that will govern operations within the facility. A process flow and notional equipment layout sketch found in the DHA provides additional definition to the PHS concept.

Additional technical specifications:

1. Intermediate bulk containers (IBC)

a. Must be water cooled

b. Must include thermocouple wells to measure temperature within the vessel

c. Must have interconnects for argon gas to maintain positive argon gas pressure with pressure relief exceeding 2 psi above atomosphere.

2. Sieving operation

a. Minimum throughput of 25kg/hr

b. Powder will be gravity fed into the sieve (no pneumatic transport), a metering device is required as not to overwhelm the sieve during the process

c. Structure supporting IBC feeding into sieve operation must sustain a load of

200 kg for powder and IBC.

d. Minimum of three mesh sizes within the sieve stack, maximum of 5

e. Must be capable of sieving at 10 microns without the need for ultrasonics

f. Sieve mesh screens must only be made of stainless steel without the presence of any organics or glues

3. Decanting operation

a. Structure supporting IBC for gravity feeding must sustain a minimum load of 200kg

b. Semi-automated process with digital readouts for weights of both upper and lower containers

c. Capable of filling largest to smallest and smallest to largest IBCs

4. Blending operation

a. Maximum blending capacity of 500kg, assuming density of 12 g/cm3

5. Packaging operation

a. Structure supporting IBC for gravity feeding must sustain a minimum load of 200kg

b. Glove box unit must be modular to allow for additional side by side units in the future

c. Designed to ensure ease of clean out between material swaps

The selected offeror will work collaboratively with UTB staff to:

1) Review and refine the existing conceptual design.

2) Develop plans, engineering design details and performance requirements for each PHS operation.

3) Establish schedule with contingencies for project execution.

4) Fabricate or identify commercially-available components needed to equip each

PHS operation.

5) Design, fabricate or source all equipment needed to transport powder among operations while assuring powder containment and maintenance of inert atmosphere to create a fully functional PHS.

6) Provide integration, installation and startup support. Acceptance criteria for the system and subsystems will be agreed upon by Seller and UTB during the initial design phase.

Deliverables/Submittals

Vendor shall take actions, submit reports and information and deliver hardware according to the following schedule:

• Convene in-person kickoff meeting of Vendor and UTB technical teams at Vendor’s location to review conceptual design and agree to plan for project execution. (Within 2 weeks ARO)

• Convene weekly virtual meetings between UTB and Vendor technical teams to review progress, discuss and resolve system design and performance concerns and submit report documenting progress and action-items. (Each week during contract execution beginning week following kickoff meeting)

• Submit report of kickoff meeting and schedule for project execution. (3 weeks ARO)

• Submit, for UTB concurrence, sourcing plan and schedule for commercially-available system components. (4 weeks ARO)

• Submit detailed engineering design for in-house fabricated components and subsystems. (As complete by subsystem 6-12 weeks ARO)

• Assemble at Vendor location and verify performance and operability for each stand-alone end item or subsystem. (12 – 20 weeks ARO)

• Deliver hardware to UTB assembly site in Oak Ridge. (12 – 20 weeks ARO)

• Provide engineering design and written installation instructions for all provided equipment. (12-20 weeks ARO)

• Provide staff to support installation and startup of completed PHS. (20-22 weeks

ARO)