Attachment 4 - Q and A - 14 FEB 2022 - CO Signed.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE

AIR FORCE LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT CENTER (AFMC)

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE OHIO

14 FEB 2022

FROM: AFLCMC/PZIBC

1940 Allbrook Drive, Room 109

Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433

SUBJECT: Response to Inquiries regarding FA8601-22-R-0018

QUESTIONS

QUESTION A: Can you tell us, what parts are you planning to print and what is the end goal? (the more detailed the better, because the configuration of the proposed solution will depend on it).

ANSWER A: Simple shapes (cuboids, tensile bars, cylinders) for the study of printing high temperature alloys.

REQUIREMENT 1: Powder recoater allowing the utilization of hard and/or soft wiper blades. Assembly shall allow between 1 and 3 blades to be utilized at once.

QUESTION B: Our default solution uses one blade made of silicone. What exactly do you refer to when calling a wiper blade “soft” or “hard”? There are options to use blades made of ceramic or metal. In our experience, these are never used. Instead, we use different grades of silicone (from soft to hard), or polyurethane.

Would such a solution be acceptable and what materials do you believe might be most appropriate for your task?

ANSWER B: The solicitation calls for a 500 C heated build chamber. The wiper materials should be capable of operating at that temperature. If the silicone blade can operate at the desired temperature without loss in performance then it meets the intent.

QUESTION C: When referring to the utilization of multiple blades at once, what is the end goal with such a solution?

By default, we use only one blade.

With that being said, the area where the blades are installed is quite large. We could install a “combined” blade which has varying levels of rigidity across the recoater (where some surfaces are hard and some are soft), depending on what is required from the solution.

Is this how you envision the system? Would such a solution work?

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE

AIR FORCE LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT CENTER (AFMC)

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE OHIO

ANSWER C: Occasionally we utilize non-spherical metal powders. We would like to study whether multiple wipers, or combinations of different types of wipers, could help with wiping issues we encounter with powders with reduced flowability.

QUESTION D: Do you have any preferences for blade materials?

ANSWER D: No, see answer to b.

REQUIREMENT 6: Machine control computer. The control computer shall run all machine control software packages, give the user full admin rights, and allow the user to install any desired software.

REQUIREMENT 7: Machine control software. The software shall allow the loading of computer-aided design(CAD) models in standard formats (.stl, .stp, etc.). The software shall allow the user to arrange the models on the build plate, slice the models into layers, assign user defined laser parameters to each 3D printed part, and execute the build. The software shall allow conditional programming to modify laser processing parameters for each 3D printed part based upon user defined conditions without user interruption of the build.

QUESTION E: Would you consider a solution where you use two different computers, a Machine control computer to control the printing process of the 3D printer and a separate computer to prepare computer-aided design (CAD) models for printing, or is it critical to manage both processes on one computer?

ANSWER E: Managing the two processes on separate computers is acceptable.

REQUIREMENT 10: Explosion-proof vacuum system for cleaning/removing metal powders from the build and powder chambers.

QUESTION F: Can this be third-party tested equipment which is not directly integrated into the printer? We usually supply our machines with RUWAC systems.

ANSWER F: Yes, the vacuum system does not need to be integrated into the printer.

Zachary Huffman

Contracting Officer