The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology will be the site of a new 2010 research center focusing on developing and certifying repair processes that extend the life of military equipment.
The Repair, Refurbish, and Return to Service Applied Research Center, or R3S, will develop, certify and implement innovative methods to refurbish and return to service vital military equipment. The center will be utilizing technologies developed at the School of Mines' Advanced Materials Processing (AMP) Laboratory, including friction stir (welding without melting), cold spray (accelerating particles to supersonic speed) and laser additive manufacturing (particles injected in laser beams for free-form fabrication), and also developing and certifying new processes and technologies.
Using the processes developed and certified by the center to repair military and civilian equipment, the School of Mines will collaborate with South Dakota State University, Western Dakota Technical Institute, and other educational partners; industrial partners such as H.F. Webster Inc. and RPM & Associates in Rapid City; and corporations such as Boeing, GE Aviation, Pratt & Whitney, Lockheed Martin, Rolls Royce, and Friction Stir Link.
Inspiration for the R3S center came from a 2007 Aging Aircraft Repair Facility study conducted by the School of Mines. The study showed that utilizing these technologies to repair and refurbish B1 bombers and related aircraft alone would result in $35 million per year in cost saving for the Air Force. Using these technologies on other military equipment would expand the cost savings across the Department of Defense into the hundreds of millions of dollars, a compelling cost/benefits analysis. This study identified a need that this new applied research center will fill. The successful study was due in large part to support for the project from the South Dakota Congressional delegation, spearheaded by Senator John Thune.
"The School of Mines truly appreciate all of the work of the South Dakota Congressional delegation," School of Mines President Robert A. Wharton, Ph.D., said. "It is our Senators' and Congresswoman's continued support that allows our researchers even more opportunities to assume leadership roles in new technology arenas."
The Air Force estimates its costs for planned depot maintenance and engine repair exceed $2 billion annually. In an effort to control costs, the Air Force has slowed procurement of new airframe systems, extending the mission service life for existing systems. This extended life increases the need for the type of state-of-the-art, cost-efficient repair that the R3S will specialize in.
The center's director, William J. Arbegast, will oversee projects conducted by faculty members, graduate students and undergraduate students from multiple disciplines working with industry partners. Arbegast is the director of the Advanced Materials Processing Center (AMP) and the Center for Friction Stir Processing, a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center, both located at the School of Mines.
"This center will be an opportunity for students and faculty to work with industrial partners in a multidisciplinary setting - a true collaborative environment," Arbegast said. "This gives students hands-on applied research opportunities, first in developing technologies and then working on the real hardware."
According to Arbegast, the new center is not only a benefit to the School of Mines, but to Rapid City. "This is an applied research center dedicated to repairing military hardware, but with significant commercial value. Civilian equipment like power and transportation systems can benefit from these technologies," Arbegast said. "The center will identify new technologies and will need people in the Rapid City area to implement them. We will need supporting industries to transition to true production, and expect that several high-tech spinoff companies will be developed in Rapid City."
"For many years, the School of Mines has been an internationally recognized leader in these technologies," Wharton said. "We welcome this opportunity to continue to support our national defense and to assist in creating new economic development opportunities for Rapid City and the State of South Dakota."
