THE MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT AT AUBURN UNIVERSITY (AU) WILL WORK UNDER THE GUIDANCE AND DISCRETION OF NASA MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER (NMSFC); TO INVESTIGATE THE FATIGUE BEHAVIOR AND RELATED FAILURE MECHANISMS OF INCONEL 718 PARTS FABRICATED VIA SELECTIVE LASER MELTING (SLM) A POWDER BED ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING (AM) PROCESS.THE IN-SERVICE MECHANICAL INTEGRITY AND THUS TRUSTWORTHINESS OF METALLIC AM PARTS IS CURRENTLY NOT WELLDOCUMENTED (IN COMPARISON TO PARTS FABRICATED USING MORE TRADITIONAL AND BETTER-UNDERSTOOD MANUFACTURING METHODS). RAPIDLY EVOLVING AM TECHNOLOGY COMBINED WITH CONSIDERABLE VARIANCE AMONGST AM MACHINES PROCESSING METHODS TESTING PROCEDURES AND MORE COMPLICATES THE GENERATIONOF RELIABLE MECHANICAL PROPERTY DATA. LACK OF PROPER DESIGN PROCESSING AND TESTING STANDARDS IN THEMETALS AM ARENA INCREASES UNCERTAINTY IN REPORTED DATA. WITH INCREASING PRESSURE TO ACCELERATE THEDEPLOYMENT OF AM PARTS FOR THEIR USE IN VARIOUS AERONAUTICAL APPLICATIONS AS THE COST-SAVINGS ANDLOGISTICAL BENEFITS ARE POTENTIALLY HIGH THE CERTIFICATION OF AM PARTS IS IN HIGH DEMAND.SINCE MANY APPLICATIONS REQUIRE AM PARTS TO BEAR REPETITIOUS LOADING THEIR MECHANICAL CHARACTERIZATIONVIA FATIGUE TESTING AND MODELING IS OF IMMEDIATE INTEREST FOR ACCELERATING THE DESIGN AND DEPLOYMENT(I.E. TECHNOLOGY READINESS LEVEL). USING SAMPLES PROVIDED BY NMSFC AU WILL PERFORM EXPERIMENTS TO EFFECTIVELY DETERMINE THE UNIAXIAL FATIGUE RESISTANCE OF VARIOUS INCONEL 718 SPECIMENS IN ORDER TO DEVELOP A MICROSTRUCTURE-SENSITIVE FATIGUE MODEL FOR USE AT THE DESIGN STAGE. THE PROPOSED RESEARCHACTIVITY IS POISED TO GENERATE MANY BENEFITS FOR NASA AND GREATER SOCIETY INCLUDING: REDUCED MANUFACTURING COSTS AND TIMES ASSEMBLY WEIGHT REDUCTIONS DESIGN FOR ADDITIVE SCHEMES REMOTE/EXTRATERRESTRIAL MANUFACTURE OF TOOLS/SUPPLIES ON-DEMAND AND MORE ADVANCED/CUSTOMIZEDPARTS.