ASTM International’s (www.astm.org) committee on additive manufacturing technologies is developing a ‘standard guide’ (WK66029) for the mechanical testing of additively manufactured plastics.

This guide (from one of the largest voluntary standards-developing organisations in the world) aims to incorporate what has been learned about mechanical testing modification, interpreting results, and validating test methods with respect to additively manufactured polymer parts.

The standard is a project of ASTM Inter-national’s Additive Manufacturing Centre of Excellence, led by Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR), which was launched last year to ‘accelerate’ R&D, standardisation and inn-ovation in additive manufacturing.

Within WSU-NIAR, the National Centre for Advanced Materials Performance (NCAMP) is developing material property data and statistical analysis reports for additively manufactured materials using input from industry steering committees and government review boards.

Based on lessons learned through the first additive qualification programme under the NCAMP process (ULTEM 9085), NIAR is conducting a ‘round robin’ study to better understand alternative methods and geometries that more appropriately characterise additively produced specimens.

The study aims to drive consensus across a number of ASTM committees and offer universally-acceptable guidance for the AM industry.

John Tomblin, NIAR executive director, said: “NIAR has the experience necessary to leverage material qualification efforts into applicable industry standards for adjacent material and technology systems, such as additive manufacturing. The round-robin study is the next step in expanding on the work accomplished by the qualification
programme.”