Program Summary
The DARPA Structures Uniquely Resolved to Guarantee Endurance (SURGE) program aims to rethink the current machine-focused paradigm of part qualification in additive manufacturing (AM). Today, we work to perfect the operation of individual AM machines to repeatably produce material with known properties. This is accomplished through months or years of process optimization and material property testing at a cost that can easily surpass millions of dollars. SURGE will explore a new approach where the life of every unique part is predicted at the point of production based directly on data captured during manufacturing. Shifting focus from qualifying the machine to assessing each individual part will unlock the full potential of AM for distributed production so that any geometry can be produced on any machine, anywhere in the world, at any time, while guaranteeing part life under anticipated service conditions. If successful, SURGE will enable distributed AM for point-of-need production of critical parts and expand the potential defense industrial base in times of surge production demand.