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NASA Marshall Space Flight Center · ER13

ARMOR Test Rig

Additive Rig for Manufacturing Optimization and Roughness. A test bench I designed from the ground up to study how additive manufacturing and post-processing methods affect turbomachinery performance.

Timeframe2023 – Present
Funding2026 Center Innovation Fund
RoleLead design and build
StatusActive

Overview

Turbomachinery components are increasingly made with additive manufacturing, but surface roughness and post-processing choices can change how a part actually performs in service. ARMOR is a test rig I built to study that relationship directly, rather than relying on assumptions carried over from traditionally machined parts.

The project won a Center Innovation Fund award which covered the design, fabrication, and instrumentation of the rig.

What I built

  • Test Bench. Designed a modified version of a flight turbopump to utilize as a test bench. Managed manufacturing, post processing, and integration of the component.
  • Data Acquisition System. Designed, coded, and integrated a LabVIEW NI system
  • Air panel. Designed a novel air panel for the rig from scratch, built to support controlled airflow testing across a range of conditions.
  • Test matrix. Developed the test matrix used to systematically vary additive manufacturing and post-processing parameters across trials.
  • Control software. Wrote the software used to run and monitor the rig during testing.