America Makes, ANSI Publish Additive Manufacturing Standardization Map

America Makes and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) have published Standardization Roadmap for Additive Manufacturing (Version 1.0). 

The roadmap’s publication represents the culmination of a year’s work by the America Makes & ANSI Additive Manufacturing Standardization Collaborative (AMSC), a group established to coordinate and accelerate the development of industry-wide additive manufacturing standards and specifications. Federal agencies, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Department of Defense (DoD), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and others, as well as several standards development organizations (SDOs), were instrumental in the formation of this collaborative. More than 260 individuals from over 150 public- and private-sector organizations actively supported the document’s development with substantial representation from the aerospace, defense and medical industries, according to the group.

The roadmap provides a snapshot of the current additive manufacturing standards landscape and identifies 89 “gaps”–19 high priority–where no published standard or specification currently exists to address a particular industry need. In 58 of those cases, additional research and development (R&D) needs are identified. The document lists relevant standards or standards under development that relate to the issues discussed and includes recommendations for priority areas where there is a perceived need for additional standardization activity. Topical areas include standards for design, process and materials (subdivided into precursor materials, process control, post-processing, and finished material properties), qualification and certification, nondestructive evaluation, and maintenance.

The AMSC was launched in March 2016 because a number of standards developing organizations are engaged in standards-setting for various aspects of additive manufacturing, prompting the need for coordination to maintain a consistent, harmonized and non-contradictory set of additive manufacturing standards. The AMSC itself does not write standards. 

“The publication of the AMSC roadmap represents a significant milestone for the additive manufacturing community, one that will help to advance the growth of the industry,” says Ed Morris, vice president and director of America Makes. “We thank all of the participating organizations and volunteers for their commitment of time and energy throughout this process.”

“We now need the industry and the standards developing organizations involved in this space to come together, adopt the recommendations set forth in the roadmap, and work to achieve a coherent and coordinated suite of standards and specifications for additive manufacturing. America Makes and ANSI plan to continue to further this dialogue,” says AMSC Chair Jim Williams, president of All Points Additive.

“ANSI appreciates this opportunity to partner with America Makes and to lend our expertise as coordinator of the U.S. private-sector system of voluntary standardization,” says Joe Bhatia, president and CEO of ANSI. “Standards and conformity assessment are needed to create trust in innovative technologies and foster their widespread acceptance.”

The roadmap is supplemented by the AMSC Standards Landscape, a list of standards that are directly or peripherally related to the issues described in the roadmap. Both documents and additional information are available on the AMSC website.

Sources: Press materials and additional information from the organizations’ websites.