At NASA Langley’s Advanced Composite Manufacturing Lab, Brian Grimsley shows a polymer sample to visitors Becky Stewart, Barry Johnson and Michael Beffel, who were touring the center with the Commonwealth Center for Advance Manufacturing (CCAM).
“The visit provides CCAM management the opportunity to interact directly with our researchers in our lab environment and to see several areas where NASA Langley can directly contribute to manufacturing,” said David Dress of Langley’s Space Technology Directorate, adding that NASA Langley is pursuing a government associate membership with CCAM.
Dress explained that there was a comparable visit in February when senior leadership from NASA Langley visited CCAM and Rolls-Royce.
CCAM President and Executive Director Michael Beffel’s main objective for visiting was to explore the possibilities of a joint venture – from technology development to the laboratory, and finally, commercialization.
The three visitors, accompanied by center leadership, received an overview of the center, and structure and materials. After touring the Advanced Composite Manufacturing Lab, they learned about Electron Beam Free-form Fabrication (EBF3) and additive manufacturing. They also learned about a proposed new capability, automated fiber placement.
“It’s an amazing opportunity when you can tour a place like this and you see all of the technology,” Beffel said. “Everything just calls out to me, and I have to be careful to not bite off too much of the elephant.”Photo credit: NASA/Dave Bowman