Metrology News: ASTRO America’s Tech Challenge To Push Limits of Distortion Prediction

The Applied Science & Technology Research Organization of America (ASTRO America) in partnership with Florida State University’s Institute for Strategic Partnerships, Innovation, Research, & Education (InSPIRE), has announced the second installment of its national 3D Printing Tech Challenge at the Defense Strategies Institute’s Military Additive Manufacturing (MILAM) Summit. This year’s competition will focus on Distortion Prediction & Compensation in LPBF Inconel 718, a critical challenge facing precision parts manufacturing in aerospace and defense.

Predicting As-Built Distortion

Building on the success of last year’s inaugural competition, this challenge invites participants to predict the as-built distortion of a complex Inconel 718 geometry and propose a compensated model using a calibration build of their choice. Finalists will have the opportunity to demonstrate their solutions on industrial-scale systems and present to a panel of leading evaluators from the defense, aerospace, and investment communities.

“The goal is to accelerate adoption of modeling tools that make metal additive manufacturing more predictable, cost-effective, and production-ready,” said Dr. Abdalla Nassar, Vice President and General Manager, ASTRO South. “This competition directly supports the national imperative to scale additive manufacturing capabilities, and we’re excited to provide participants the opportunity to benchmark their solutions in a real-world setting using parts of interest to the aerospace and defense community.”

“We are proud to partner with ASTRO America,” said Drew Allen, Executive Director, FSU InSPIRE. “These challenges are key to fostering a collaborative environment that actively bridges the gap between development and production; we’re nurturing an evolutionary ecosystem to rapidly advance technology into product solutions.”

Evaluations will be based on criteria such as:

• Accuracy and repeatability
• Calibration methods and standards
• Value vs. cost of ownership
• Functionality and ease of use
• Business strategy and market potential
• Overall technical impression

Last year’s competition, focused on Actionable In-Situ Awareness, recognized Additive Assurance and Addiguru as top performers, spotlighting real-world solutions for quality control in metal AM. Building on that momentum, this year’s distortion modeling challenge aims to bridge another pressing gap between R&D and production at scale.

Key Dates:

RFP Deadline: March 9, 2026
Participant Selection: March 13, 2026
Evaluation Period: March 16 – June 30, 2026
Tech Showcase & Winner Announcement: July/August 2026

For more information: www.astroa.org