NIST Funding $7.4M for Additive Manufacturing Standards

Additive processes test measurements (NIST.gov)

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of U.S. Department of Commerce, is awarding two grants totaling $7.4 million to improve measurement and standards for additive manufacturing, industrial applications of three-dimensional printing. Most of the money — $5 million — is going to a consortium of 27 organization headed by the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Youngstown, Ohio. The remainder funds a project led by Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

Additive manufacturing harnesses 3-D printing to lay down thin layers of material to build up objects, rather than traditional manufacturing processes that cut objects from larger pieces of material. The technology promises to produce goods faster and on-demand, to meet customized and complex specifications with less waste. Industries such as aerospace, medical devices, and electronics are exploring additive manufacturing applications.

Despite these potential benefits, three-dimensional printing faces a number of additional requirements when producing high-value goods in an industrial environment. These challenges include a lack of full data on the materials used, inadequate process control, lack of standards for testing machine performance, and few tools for modeling and design made for this technology.

The two-year NIST-funded projects aim to address these requirements. At National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII), a group of 27 companies, universities, and research institutes are investigating processes to produce and certify high-quality parts in a range of industries and supply chains. The NAMII project has three sections:

– A study led by Edison Welding Institute in Columbus, Ohio seeks to optimize a process of fusing metal powders with lasers known as laser-powder bed fusion. This study will develop in-process sensing and monitoring capabilities to ensure tolerances and other quality requirements are consistently achieved.

– Concurrent Technologies Corp. in Arlington, Virginia will lead research into nondestructive evaluation techniques for post-manufacturing inspection. This effort aims to develop and validate inspection processes used with the production of complex high value-added parts.

– A team led by University of Louisville in Kentucky aims to develop a “layerwise certification standard” that generates a high-definition record of each part as it’s produced layer-by-layer. This standard would contribute to a quality certificate documented by in-process measurements indexed to the part specifications.

The $2.4 million project led by Northern Illinois University seeks to develop process control and part-qualification tools for microstructural and mechanical properties of products and parts made with additive manufacturing. The tools are expected to generate data to make possible process adjustments as parts are being produced one layer at a time.

The tools developed in this project will also aim to provide data to guide development of engineered materials tailored for specific additive manufacturing technologies. Joining with Northern Illinois in this project are Northwestern University in Evanston, Quad City Manufacturing Laboratory in Rock Island, Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center in Peoria, and Fabricators & Manufacturers Association in Rockford, all in Illinois.

Read more:

• 3-D Conductive Structures Built with Liquid Metal
• 3-D Printing, Computer Model Generate Synthetic Bone Matter
• GE Unveils Two Challenges on 3-D/Additive Manufacturing
• U.K. University to Build Advanced Manufacturing Facility
• UConn, Pratt & Whitney Open Additive Manufacturing Lab

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