Christmas has come late for the new owners of a couple of high-end additive manufacturing systems. Firstly, the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) in Coventry, UK, has installed a Fortus 450mc 3D printer from Stratasys to meet demanding production applications throughout the country. Hoda Amel, a Senior Research Engineer at the MTC, stated: “Adding an FDM-based solution […]
3D Printing Industry Review of the year: January 2019
As 2019 comes to a close, 3D Printing Industry takes a look back at the year to see how additive manufacturing has not only changed but expanded into various sectors. In the month of January, new safety standards in metal 3D printing and patents for a holographic 3D printer were established, as well as international […]
ASTM International, Innovate UK, BSI & MTC to co-develop standards metal additive manufacturing
ASTM International, the leader in Global standards, has partnered with Innovate UK, the British Standards Institution (BSI), and the UK Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) in Coventry, to develop technical standards for the additive manufacturing process, directed energy deposition (DED). Through this collaboration, the ASTM International Additive Manufacturing Centre of Excellence, in which the MTC is a founding partner, […]
3D Printing Industry Review of the Year April 2018
In April 2018, automotive and architecture dominated on the 3D printing applications front. This month, 3D Printing Industry also became an official media partner of AMUG, one of the most exclusive groups in the industry – and we featured big releases from the likes of Stratasys, BMW, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Markforged. 3D Printing […]
3D Printing Industry Review of the Year February 2018
Following January’s vision of the year ahead, February 2018 was a month of 3D printer releases. In this month, Stratasys shared material details of its upcoming metal 3D printer, and HP expanded its range of Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) systems to include full color 3D printers. This month, we also marked the 20th anniversary of SOLIDWORKS World, […]
Additive manufacturing stakeholders unite under GKN Aersopace £32M technology center
A new GKN Aerospace Global Technology Center (GTC), with additive manufacturing front and center of its strategy, is to be launched in 2020 with the collaboration of 15 household names from across the industry. Based in Bristol, the center has been funded using £15 million from the UK Government’s Aerospace Technology Institute, and £17 million […]
ASTM International’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence Welcomes Strategic Partner NAMIC, Announces First Round of Projects
About a year ago, international standards organization ASTM International announced that it would be setting up an Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence, and began enlisting partners to help launch the center. The most recent partner to be added to the roster is Singapore’s National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster (NAMIC), which will coordinate the center’s R&D and related activities in Asia as well as invest up to $1.5 million in the first two years.
NAMIC’s Managing Director, Dr. Ho Chaw Sing, and ASTM International’s Director of Global Additive Manufacturing Programs, Dr. Mohsen Seifi, signed a Strategic Partnership Statement last week at NAMIC’s Global Additive Manufacturing Summit.
“We are excited to enter into this partnership with ASTM International,” said Dr. Sing. “We look forward to catalyzing crucial research that helps establish technical standards, guiding additive manufacturing into the future for Singapore, Asia, and the entire world. Our investment into the center’s regional-based activities will support implementation of additive manufacturing technologies globally.”
NAMIC is the first organization in Asia to join with ASTM, and its role will be to support R&D and standardization activities that will help drive commercialization of additive manufacturing technologies in sectors such as aerospace, maritime and offshore, logistics and fabrication.
“We are thrilled that NAMIC will be leading the Asia-Pacific’s efforts to drive advancements and innovation in additive manufacturing on a global scale,” said Dr. Seifi. “NAMIC’s leadership in aerospace maintenance, repair, and overhaul, maritime and offshore, and other industries will complement the center’s capabilities, and we are pleased to welcome additional investments in this world-class partnership which will accelerate standardization in this fast-growing field.”
The center’s founding partners are Auburn University, NASA, manufacturing technology innovator EWI, and the UK-based Manufacturing Technology Centre. NAMIC and the US National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) are the first two strategic partners.
Recently, ASTM International also announced its first round of funding to support research that will help advance the development of standards for additive manufacturing. The investment of $300,000 as well as in-kind contributions will help the Center of Excellence partners to address technical information needs.
“We are very fortunate to work with such renowned organizations to leverage their expertise towards standardization in additive manufacturing,” said Oerlikon engineer Matthew Donovan, who chairs the research and innovation group under ASTM International’s additive manufacturing technology committee (F42).
The initial round of projects approved by the committee involve four areas: feedstock, process qualification, post-processing and testing. The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) will research the development of quality assessment standards for metal powders used for additive manufacturing. The research will contribute to a standard guide for evaluating powder quality and recyclability.
NASA will work on developing standard procedures, metrics and requirements to help qualify machines and processes for laser bed fusion, while EWI will research how various surface finishing techniques for additively manufactured products impact performance and structural integrity. This will help standardize surface quality and measurement metrics.
Auburn University will research mechanical testing issues in additive manufacturing to better understand the relationships between the properties of test specimens and the performance of parts. This will contribute to a standard that provides guidance on designing test samples that best represent additively manufactured components. Meanwhile, NIAR will focus on mechanical testing issues surrounding polymers used in 3D printing.
You can learn more about the Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence here.
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