ADDiTEC's HYBRiD-X Shows Material Versatility for Defense

At the Naval Postgraduate School's Joint Interagency Field Experimentation (JIFX) event in May, ADDiTEC showcased its HYBRiD-X expeditionary manufacturing system. This platform is designed to support defense sustainment by enabling advanced manufacturing capabilities in the field. JIFX, a collaborative event held quarterly at Camp Roberts, allows innovators to test prototypes alongside military personnel and government stakeholders, offering a risk-free environment for new technologies.

During a distributed manufacturing experiment supported by CAMRE and FLEETWERX, the HYBRiD-X successfully processed various engineering alloys, including aluminum, stainless steel, and nickel-aluminum bronze, all within a single deployable unit. This demonstration highlighted the platform's "Material Freedom," allowing users to select the most suitable material for a given mission rather than being restricted to a single process or material type. The system is capable of producing and repairing a wide range of metal components.

The HYBRiD-X integrates Liquid Metal Jetting (LMJ), Laser Directed Energy Deposition (LDED), and CNC machining into a compact, containerized solution. This multi-process capability allows for the production, repair, and finishing of metal parts using a single system, thereby reducing the overall equipment footprint. The demonstration emphasized how this material flexibility directly enhances "Mission Readiness," particularly in expeditionary and maritime settings where space is limited and operational needs can change rapidly.

By enabling the manufacture and repair of components from multiple materials with one deployable platform, the HYBRiD-X offers a significant logistical advantage. Operators can produce critical mission components closer to the point of need, bypassing the need for multiple specialized systems or lengthy supply chains. Chris Curran, CAMRE Program Manager, noted the necessity for flexible, multi-material, and multi-process capable systems in expeditionary environments, stating, "Since we do not know what part will be requested, we must account for this by providing systems that are multi-material compatible as well as multi-process capable, such as CNC additive and subtractive technologies."