According to the press release, "the contract extension is part of a Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) project to develop an Integrated Computational Material Engineering (ICME) framework to accurately predict the material properties of components produced using Additive Manufacturing or 3D printing for metal parts."
Sigma Labs has been on a roll recently, with a grant win from The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as a member of the "America Makes" (The National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute) team to set standards for 3D printing of critical metal components announced in September. More recently, Sigma Labs announced another contract with Los Alamos National Laboratory for advanced manufacturing technology as part of the ARIES program.
Shares of Sigma Labs rose 17.5% on heavy volume with today's announcement. I've been writing about this "tiny 3D printing company with big industry partners" since it was a .03 stock right here on Engineering.com. While the stock has made strong (although volatile) upward moves since then, I believe the greatest potential for share price appreciation for Sigma Labs may be when they commercialize their patented PrintRite3D technology, now expected sometime in 2014.
Gary Anderson
Disclosure: I am long shares of Sigma Labs.