Fortify and polySpectra Win Dept. of Energy Funding

Fortify, a manufacturer of 3D printers for advanced photopolymer composites, and polySpectra, a supplier of photopolymer resins, announced strategic funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The DOE selected 30 projects that will receive $57.9 million in funding from the Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO), with the ultimate goal of decarbonizing the U.S. industrial sector, advancing clean energy manufacturing, and improving America’s economic competitiveness and workforce diversity.

The DOE granted $3 million to polySpectra and Fortify, along with National Renewable Energy Laboratory, MPI Systems, RePliForm and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop durable direct additive tooling for automotive lightweighting via cyclic olefin resin-based composites.

Specifically, the project seeks to develop additively manufactured tooling that boast major improvements on their cost and durability versus traditional CNC tooling and with cycle times on par with CNC tooling. Fortify stated in a release that it will be developing next-generation long-lasting inserts capable of molding production volumes of lightweight automotive components from engineering-grade materials, including polymers, composites and metals.

polySpectra noted that olefin-based thermoset composites have been used for decades in demanding applications like wind turbine blades and fuel cell components because of their durability. Under this research grant, the company is hoping to directly 3D-print the composite cyclic olefin resins.