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The manufacturing process, building on techniques showcased in LEW-TOPS-151, employs a novel acoustic mixing technique to coat spherical C103 powder particles with a uniform distribution of sub-200 nanometer yttria particles. During laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing, layer-by-layer remelting disperses these yttria particles uniformly throughout the component microstructure. This eliminates the expensive, time-consuming mechanical alloying steps traditionally required for ODS alloys while enabling near-net-shape fabrication of complex geometries. Performance testing demonstrates substantial improvements: GRC103y exhibits double the yield strength at 800°C and 1.5x the yield strength at 1,400°C compared to baseline C103. The alloy also shows superior thermal stability: after one hour at 1,500°C, GRC103y retains 90% of its room temperature strength compared to only 67% for C103. Preliminary creep testing at 1,300°C and a stress of 50 MPa indicates significant improvements in creep resistance by 2539 times over baseline C103. Furthermore, GRC103y maintains excellent formability, allowing manufacturers to use traditional fabrication methods when desired. While NASA originally developed GRC103y for rocket propulsion and hypersonic vehicle applications, the alloy offers value across multiple industries. Aerospace companies can achieve weight savings or push systems to higher temperatures, while the alloy's compatibility with commercial oxidation coatings makes it suitable for environments requiring oxidation protection. GRC103y is currently available for patent licensing.

Modeling additive manufacturing processes can be difficult due to the scale difference between the active processing point (e.g., a sub-millimeter melt pool) and the part itself. Typically, the tools used to model these processes are either too computationally intensive (due to high physical fidelity or inefficient computations) or are focused solely on either the microscale (e.g., microstructure) or macroscale (e.g., cracks). These pitfalls make the tools unsuitable for fast and efficient evaluations of additive manufacturing build files and parts. Failures in parts made by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) often come when there is a lack of fusion or overheating of the metal powder that causes areas of high porosity. AM-PM uses a point field-based method to model L-PBF process conditions from either the build instructions (pre-build) or in situ measurements (during the build). The AM-PM modeling technique has been tested in several builds including a Ti-6Al-4V test article that was divided into 16 parts, each with different build conditions. With AM-PM, calculations are performed faster than similar methods and the technique can be generalized to other additive manufacturing processes. The AM-PM method is at technology readiness level (TRL) 6 (system/subsystem model or prototype demonstration in a relevant environment) and is available for patent licensing.

NASA's Debris-Tolerant Valve is designed for use in machines/environments with a large quantity of airborne dust or other contaminants. Valves subjected to airborne contaminants tend to have limited lifetime due to damaged seals, bearings, and other internal components. The Debris-Tolerant Valve design addresses this problem with four core improvements over existing commercial valves that are typically used in dusty or debris-laden processes: (1) a new cylinder design that substantially decreases dust collection within the valve; (2) a rotational valve design that minimizes grinding and packing experienced by the standard ball valve; (3) the use of elastomeric seals rather than the Teflon-based seals used in existing valves which are prone to scratching and subsequent leakage; and (4) a bleed port for fluid intake that allows pressure to build slowly in the valve and eliminates the stirring of dust commonly caused by rapid inflow of air in existing valves. The operational lifetime of NASA's Debris-Tolerant Valve exceeds the lifetime of a standard commercial valve and the existing selector valve used on the ISS by 12X and 6X, respectively. NASA's valve design has fewer parts than existing valves and could be disassembled without tools, enabling easier servicing and maintenance. The Debris-Tolerant Valve is only about one-seventh (1/7) the cost of the existing ISS selector valve.

This method leverages advanced computational modeling to evaluate localized heating conditions and fusion metrics and quantify defect risks dynamically, allowing for optimized build files and process adjustments that drastically improve the final component. The model can be trained using PPF and print samples from an AM machine's prior builds to learn correlations between the machine's instructions, behavior during build, and final product quality. By integrating machine feedback metrics, model-based thermal and fusion metrics, and in-situ sensor metrics, the model learns predictive signatures that allow it to quantify localized defect probability in PBF laser beam metals. Manufacturers can employ this method to understand the reproducibility of their prints and perform defect compensation before parts are fully deployed, improving quality, reliability, and success. Particularly useful to industries that require stringent certification of safety-critical components, such as the aerospace, space, medical, and automotive sectors, this method can be flexibly deployed globally or adapted to specific AM machines. By predicting the probability of defects before and during production, 3D printing service providers and AM equipment manufacturers can save significant amounts of time and money while drastically reducing part variability. This predictive capability also allows organizations to certify parts faster and ensure consistent material properties, which is essential for meeting rigorous performance and safety standards. This is method is currently available for patent licensing (no software included).

Lunar regolith presents unique challenges for laser-based additive manufacturing. Unlike conventional metal or ceramic powders, regolith is a heterogeneous mixture of ceramics, metals, metal oxides, and minerals. During laser processing, each constituent undergoes independent phase transitions, creating material behavior variations between layers. Excessive heat causes dissociation and gas bubble formation, while rapid cooling traps porosity. The glassy components are particularly sensitive; once melted, they cannot return to their original state, and improper thermal management during re-melting causes crystalline structure failures and anisotropy throughout parts. This methodology addresses these challenges through coordinated thermal control across the build. Custom scan patterns and beam-shaping optics maintain target temperature ranges across the processing area while controlling heating and cooling rates. Layer height, hatch spacing, scan pattern, re-heating intervals, laser power, and inter-layer dwell times are precisely coordinated to manage the sequential phases of melting, nucleation, grain growth, and annealing. Previous layers of unsintered regolith act as insulation and as a controlled quench medium, maintaining temperature and preheating subsequent layers. A dedicated build plate is not required; a firebrick build plate has been used to support rapid, quick-turn parameter development in a laboratory setting. Real-time thermal imaging monitors the process. The methodology has been demonstrated in sustained operation within a thermal vacuum chamber at 10e-6 Torr, replicating the operational environments for lunar and Martian surface manufacturing. The amorphous vitrified glass process is at TRL 5; glass-ceramic components are currently undergoing validation for final strength claims. This advanced thermal management process is available for patent licensing.

Dispersion Enhanced Aluminum Alloys improve the additive manufacturing performance of high-strength aluminum alloys by modifying the alloy powder with uniformly dispersed nano-sized ceramic particles. Building on the dispersion and acoustic mixing methods developed during the creation of NASA Glenn's GRX-810 technology, researchers use an acoustic field to attach nanoscale alumina dispersoids to the surface of each aluminum alloy powder particle. During mixing, acoustic energy creates rapid micro-vibrations that cause the alumina particles to collide with the metal powder, embed against its surface, and distribute into a uniform shell that surrounds each particle. This produces a composite powder in which every aluminum particle carries its own evenly spaced ceramic nucleation sites. When the composite powder is delivered into an additive manufacturing process such as laser powder bed fusion or directed energy deposition, the aluminum alloy melts while the alumina dispersoids remain solid due to their significantly higher melting temperature. As the molten pool flows and mixes, the dispersoids remain suspended throughout the liquid region. During solidification, these solid particles interrupt grain growth and serve as nucleation points that promote the formation of fine equiaxed grains. This refined microstructure distributes thermal stresses more uniformly and disrupts the crack initiation mechanisms that typically occur in high-strength alloys like AA 2050. By stabilizing the alloy during solidification, the technology enables these advanced materials to be printed with greater reliability, improved geometric control, and more consistent mechanical behavior across the final product. The enhanced alloy technology is available for patent licensing.