• Dr. Slade Gardner
  • Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company
  • 104D Surge Building
  • 4:00 p.m.
  • Faculty Host: Dr. Pradeep Raj

Advanced materials and manufacturing processes have been a hallmark feature in the legacy of Lockheed Martin products.  There are many well established engineering heuristics for reducing the cost in manufacturing structures and there are operational philosophies that increase the capability or complexity of a manufactured article.  One combination of heuristics and philosophies is to leverage existing and accepted manufacturing techniques with newly developed material formulations that can advantageously replace conventional high performance structures.  In this presentation Dr. Gardner will discuss APEX, the thermoplastic nanocomposite which was strategically developed and implemented under his leadership with the goal of replacing aluminum structures with a material half the density at cost savings greater than 50%.  By building a set of industry relevant performance goals from a strong knowledge of DoD system requirements the material formulation development had specific and achievable targets.  Of manufacturing and economic importance is the flexible range of processing that allows a variety of manufacturing techniques to be used with a single formulation.  This attention to customer specific needs amplifies the benefits of APEX in an advanced manufacturing philosophy that has been demonstrated with successful engineering trades, some of which will be presented.

A relatively new combination of heuristics and philosophies allows additive manufacturing methods that are, by name material additive in nature, rather than subtractive, and provide opportunities to extend beyond conventionally accepted part geometry and design.  Additive deposition of material is automated for reduction in touch labor which directly reduces part cost and features precise repeatability.  Dr. Gardner’s team has developed and demonstrated unique additive manufacturing equipment and capabilities to include point wise composition control and scale-up with articulated robotic equipment.  Lockheed Martin has ongoing developments in metallic and polymer/composite additive manufacturing with the goal of increasing capability and complexity of parts.  The development and utility of these manufacturing processes will be presented.