ASTM International’s additive manufacturing technologies committee (F42) is developing a standard that could help quickly assess the quality of 3D-printed parts as well as the performance of laser beam powder bed fusion machines that print them.

ASTM International's additive manufacturing technologies committee (F42) is developing a standard that could help quickly assess the quality of 3D-printed parts as well as the performance of laser beam powder bed fusion machines that print them.

"We are successfully working to capture variations in the laser powder bed fusion process," says Nima Shamsaei, a professor in the mechanical engineering department at Auburn University and the director of National Center for Additive Manufacturing Excellence (NCAME), a founding member of ASTM International's Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence. "Now we need to determine the sensitivity of these variations and assess repeatability across various users, materials, and systems."

The proposed standard aims to use off-the-shelf tools to quickly generate qualitative data related to dimensional accuracy and material strength, both of which serve as indicators of the health of the machine and the part (individual build).

The committee welcomes representatives of industries, universities, and research facilities that work in additive manufacturing technology to participate in upcoming round-robin experiments to assess the robustness of the proposed standard (WK71395).

The technical point of contact of this work item, Jonathan Pegues of Sandia National Laboratories says the standard could ultimately help manufacturers, laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders that produce laser beam powder bed fusion parts for structural applications. The applicability of this method can be potentially extended to other additive manufacturing systems.

For more information on ASTM International Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence and the research-to-standards projects it supports, go to www.amcoe.org.

ASTM welcomes participation in the development of its standards. Become a member at www.astm.org/JOIN. The next meeting of ASTM International's additive manufacturing committee is February 10-14, in El Paso (Texas, USA).

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