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3Degrees receives funding from America Makes and Air Force Research Lab to Develop a Best-In-Class Materials Database for Additive Manufacturing

May 24, 2021 | Categories: Member News

CHICAGO, IL, May 19, 2021 – 3Degrees, a leading 3D Printing consulting firm, is excited to announce it has been awarded funding as part of America Makes’ Rapid Innovation Project Call, which is supported by a $50,000 grant from US Air Force Research Laboratory. The award will  enable the team to deploy the traceAM software platform, which will revolutionize America Makes’ data management and analytics capabilities and further cement its role as a world-class hub for advanced additive manufacturing research and technologies.

The project team brings together materials engineers, data specialists and leading consultants who will work together to customize the traceAM platform to fit the unique needs of America Makes’ members. Specifically, the team will deliver a robust system to collect and archive data, which will allow past and future projects to be sorted by key production and technical data. The tool aligns to industry best practices and regulatory data requirements, and has the benefit of enabling real-time updates to the information captured by the system the industry as standards evolve.

“Because of its unique role within the additive manufacturing ecosystem, America Makes possesses an unparalleled amount of data around materials performance, printing platforms and technical specifications,” said Dr. Mike Vasquez, Founder of 3Degrees and principal investigator for the project. “With this work, we’ll deliver a tool that is simple to use and enables users to quickly search, analyze and compare this robust data with a click of a few buttons. We are confident this tool will produce insights that support manufacturing in the United States and benefit all 228 current and future America Makes members.”

Members of America Makes and the broader Additive Manufacturing community can follow the progress of the project throughout 2021, including at upcoming member events such as the Technical Review Exchange in July and the Member Meeting Exchange in October. The project team will also appear on the 3Degrees Discussions podcast at the conclusion of the project to discuss key learnings, existing challenges within the additive manufacturing space and what they see as the next opportunity to advance the industry.

About 3Degrees
3Degrees helps companies implement winning 3D Printing solutions through practical insights and materials expertise. It was founded in 2012 by Dr. Mike Vasquez. The team has decades of expertise in material design and selection, part evaluation, training and safety and designing 3D  printing roadmaps and long-term strategies. 3Degrees is also a member of America Makes and is based in Chicago, IL.

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