You are working for a company that does applied engineering related to manufacturing. Your boss has seen a recent request for proposal (RFP), and wants you to respond with a Phase 1 submission since you are an expert in manufacturing and materials. The RFP states:
Objective: Optimize a part and develop an optimization process/program. This project will investigate materials and manufacturing methods to reduce the cost yet maintain the relevant performance requirements for an existing part. The Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) armor support ring will serve as a proof of concept.
Description: The armor support ring for the AMPV is machined from a billet of titanium.
Material losses alone make this a highly inefficient: titanium for defense OEM use is about $20/pound. At a diameter of 45 inches, there is far more material lost to the machine shop floor than there is in the final part. Further, machining titanium is not cheap due to how comparatively expensive the tools are, the shorter tool life, and the fact that titanium work hardens; this amounts to about 4x the cost to machine steel. There have been significant advances in manufacturing processes and materials development, as well as innovative applications which combine the two. As an example of the type of changes that could be made consider the report: “Metals Materials Engineering in Tank-Automotive Equipment” which considered weight focused replacements for the M60.
This project will investigate the most efficient combination of material substitution and/or innovative uses of modern manufacturing processes.
Investigate the feasibility and cost effectiveness of various manufacturing processes and materials options to the current design with the DLA target of 10 to 1 cost reduction as an objective.