The Department of Energy (DOE) awarded $3 million to 3D printer manufacturer Fortify and photopolymer resin supplier polySpectra, as part of an initiative to develop durable direct additive tooling for automotive lightweighting via the use of cyclic olefin resin-based composites.
This is one of 30 projects receiving a total of $57.9 million in funding from the DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office. The initiative takes aim at decarbonizing the U.S. industrial sector, advancing clean energy manufacturing and improving America’s economic competitiveness and workforce diversity.
The goal of the Fortify-polySpectra project is to develop tooling that drastically improves cost and durability compared to traditional CNC tooling, but within a time frame that rivals CNC tooling.
“More than $8 billion is spent domestically each year on low-volume injection molding. The work addressed by this DOE award will pave the way for printed injection molding to unlock production applications,” said Josh Martin, CEO and co-founder of Fortify. “By combining advanced materials and post-processing with lightweight design principles, there is a significant opportunity to make a dent in the time to market, cost and performance of part production within the automotive industry and beyond.”
Fortify is based in Boston, and polySpectra is headquartered in Berkeley, Calif. The joint project will begin later this year.
