NASA's High Flow Differential Cleaning Webinar
Researchers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center have developed a method to clean complex additively manufactured parts in minutes!
Powder-based AM methods typically require post-fabrication component cleaning to remove residue powder from the surface and crevices of the part, a task that becomes increasingly difficult and time consuming with part complexity. Methods currently available to clean AM parts have significant drawbacks. Immersive cleaning using solvents or solutions can cause powder clumping. Forms of blasting (e.g., wet, bead, hydro, bristle, vacuum, etc.) work on line-of-site surfaces but are ineffective for recessed cavities. Such cleaning is typically manual, highly time consuming, and requires careful use of personal protective equipment to avoid powder inhalation. Thus, the AM market would benefit from a more automated, rapid, and effective method for cleaning complex parts.
During the webinar, you will learn much more about this novel technology, as well as how NASA’s technologies and capabilities are available to industry and other organizations through the NASA Technology Transfer Program.
For more information on the technology, please click here
Mark Alan Mitchell has over 32 years of experience in materials engineering and chemistry research and development, specializing in the development of solutions, equipment, and instrumentation utilized for precision cleaning and verification. He has successfully led multiple projects for NASA and the Defense Logistics Agency and is a subject matter expert in the areas of solvent cleaning and testing, Foreign Object Debris (FOD) and contamination control. He is currently a NASA systems engineer and policy specialist in the Systems Engineering Advancement & Leadership (SEAL) Team and the Secretariat for the Marshall Space Flight Center Program/Project Management Advisory Committee. He has served as the Assistant Chief Engineer for the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), an International Space Station Payload Integration Manager, a voting member of the ASTM G04 Committee, and other positions of increasing responsibilities. He has authored many papers and presentations related to these subjects, and has received multiple awards, including the National Defense Industrial Association-Tennessee Valley Chapter Technology Award, the NASA Marshall Innovation Team Award, the NASA Systems Engineering Technical Excellence Award, NASA Space Flight Awareness Honoree Awards (1999 and 2015), the MSFC Engineering Directorate Partnership Award, the MSFC Materials and Processes (M&P) Laboratory Collaborator Award, the M&P Peer Award, and multiple Group Achievement Awards. He currently lives with his wife of 32 years in Decatur, AL, and has two daughters, one son, two sons-in-law, and two grandchildren.
