Draft:Manufacturing Demonstration Facility

• Comment: Government sources are primary so cannot be used to establish notability and the others are about 3D printing rather than the laboratory specifically. Also, this reads like PR for the purposes of promoting them. S0091 (talk) 19:12, 31 July 2025 (UTC)

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The Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a US DOE research facility established to provide industry with affordable and convenient access to infrastructure, tools, and expertise to facilitate rapid adoption of advanced additive manufacturing technologies. The mission of the MDF is to develop and aid the adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) and composite technologies within U.S. small-, medium-, and large-scale industries for energy applications.

History

MDF was established in 2012 as the result of 26 ORNL/industry MOUs with materials suppliers, equipment suppliers, and end users of additive manufacturing and carbon fiber technologies. In its first year, MDF won three R&D 100 awards. One award was for a 3D-printed mesh robotic hand created through electron beam melting. The robotic hand was a demonstration of how 3D printing can be used to quickly create designs that couldn’t be made using other techniques like casting and forging.

The MDF first received international attention with the invention of the Big Area Additive Manufacturing system (BAAM), which could print composite parts significantly larger than anything else available. In 2014, MDF researchers used BAAM to make the world’s first 3D-printed electric car with Cincinnati Inc. and Local Motors live at the International Manufacturing Trade Show in front of more than 100,000 people. The drivable vehicle was printed with a thermoplastic composite in just 44 hours, then milled and assembled over three days. Later the same year, MDF 3D printed a replica Shelby Cobra, which was signed by former President Barack Obama and Joe Biden. MDF turned to BAAM once again in 2016 to win a Guinness World Record for “largest solid 3D printed item” with a 17.5 ft long trim-and-drill tool created for the Boeing 777X passenger jet.

MDF has also 3D printed four fuel assembly brackets for use in a functioning nuclear reactor. These were the first safety critical 3D-printed parts to see use in an active nuclear reactor. On April 22, 2021, the parts were installed in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 2 in Athens, Alabama. The brackets are scheduled for removal in 2027, when they will be inspected.

In 2025, MDF began a moonshot project with Kairos Power to 3D print polymer composite molds to cast high-precision concrete structures at the Hermes Low-Power Demonstration Reactor. The 10 ft X 10 ft molds were used to cast concrete demonstration shielding columns and had to meet both geometric tolerances and structural requirements to contain the hydrostatic pressure of poured concrete. The project was part of a DOE program focused on modernizing energy infrastructure through large-scale additive manufacturing, bio-based composite materials, and integrated digital platforms.