ASTM Program, National Center at Auburn University Mark Milestones in Additive Manufacturing Technology (Editor’s note: TITANIUM TODAY has dedicated significant editorial coverage on the topic of additive manufacturing (AM) technology for the titanium industry. As a complement to the feature article by Bill Bihlman, the following story provides excerpts of two articles that ran in 2021.)
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he ASTM Global Additive Manufacturing (AM) Program has emerged as a wellconnected “Center of Excellence” to accelerate standardization and therefore industrialization of the AM technologies, a strategic field of interest for the titanium industry. Established in 2018 as a partnership between ASTM and founding partners (NASA, Auburn University, the Manufacturing Technology Center of England, and Edison Welding Institute [EWI]), the mission for this effort is to accelerate standardization of AM and provide critical education and workforce development offerings to support the adoption of the technology. The partnership roster has grown to include the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University, Kansas, and the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster in Singapore. In addition, the AM Center of Excellence (AM CoE: www.amcoe.org) supports the ASTM F42 Additive Manufacturing Committee, which has over 1,000 members, in addition to other Standards Committees interested in AM. ASTM technical committees can utilize the AM CoE tools and resources to expedite their standard development. Dr. Martin White, head of AM CoE Programs for Europe, said ASTM and its partners launched the AM CoE “to accelerate the closing 28
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of gaps in standards for additive manufacturing, and to provide critical training and workforce development offerings to facilitate the broad adoption of this technology in multiple industries. The ‘normal’ pace of development of standards does not keep up with the rapidly progressing world of AM, and we cannot wait for standards to be ‘reactive’ to information and data from industry.” One of the key missions of the AM CoE is to identify gaps in AM standards, and then to fund targeted research and development projects “to close the gaps and accelerate standards,” Martin said. “The Center of Excellence ensures involvement of all 30,000-plus ASTM members as well as AM related technical committees in this process, by engaging them in the idea solicitation process for research and development projects. The same applies to already existing AM standards, as they must be regularly reviewed to ensure they are relevant and suitable for new technologies. Collaboration and shared funding have been utilized from other government agencies such NASA and America Makes.” While its mission spans a variety of industrial materials systems (metals, polymers, ceramics), the AM CoE covers metallic systems such as titanium alloys and Inconel (a family of nickel/chrome superalloys) in its development projects. The center pursues “collaboration and
Dr. Martin White, Head of AM CoE Programs for Europe
coordination between government, academia, and industry to advance AM standardization and expand ASTM and our stakeholders’ capabilities,” according to Martin. “We bridge standards development with research and development.” The trek towards the goal of arriving at a much-anticipated “inflection point” for AM technology has reached a major milestone, given the research, training and partnerships coalescing at the National Center for Additive Manufacturing Excellence (NCAME) at Auburn University, Auburn, AL. The center operates as additive manufacturing center of excellence, a collaborative effort among Auburn University, NASA, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and ASTM International, according to information posted on the group’s
