Global Additive Manufacturing Experts Meet in Alabama, Focus on Standardization

Hundreds of the world’s top experts in additive manufacturing – also known as 3D printing – were hosted by Auburn University in Alabama (USA) this week to discuss research and standards needed for the growing number of industries that use the technology. 

250 experts attended a one-day workshop focused on steps in the “value chain” of additive manufacturing, including feedstock and materials used in 3D printers as well as processing, post processing, testing, and certifying products made through additive manufacturing technologies.  The event was supported by the U.S.-government initiative America Makes as well as entities such Europe-based manufacturing group CECIMO and British agency Innovate UK. Sponsors included Additive Industries, EOS, GE Additive, LPW, MTS, Renishaw, SLM, and Trumpf.

“We’re focusing on R&D projects that could lead to standards that close the technical gaps that many companies and other stakeholders around the world have identified as barriers to adoption,” said Mohsen Seifi, Ph.D.  Seifi is the director of global additive manufacturing programs at ASTM International, a standards developer that launched an additive manufacturing center of excellence last year with Auburn, NASA, EWI, and the UK’s Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) as well as strategic partners the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) and Singapore’s National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster (NAMIC).

Following the workshop, ASTM International’s committee on additive manufacturing technologies (called F42) held its biannual three-day meeting to discuss new standards and to update the technical standards it has already created over the past decade.  The group – which includes about 800 industry and government representatives from dozens of countries – aims to establish consensus on key specifications, test methods, guides, and more.  

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee 261 also met.  Experts from ASTM International and ISO have created joint standards and are currently working on over 40 projects through their Partner Standards Development Organization agreement.  

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