In the U.S., ASTM International, a global standards development organization, has had committees devoted to developing standards for additive manufacturing for a number of years. The F42 committee is one of the more prominent committees.
Europe has Lloyd’s Register (LR), originally founded as a marine classification society. It is now a global engineering, technical and business services organization wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research and education in science and engineering.
LR, along with TWI, a global consultancy firm, are calling for partners to join two new global collaborative projects focused on two additive manufacturing challenges facing the industrial sector.
The projects, “Achieving Regulatory and Code Compliance for Additive Manufacturing” and “Joining of Metallic Additively Manufactured Products and Materials,” are expected to attract considerable interest from companies worldwide, as these new projects will further explore challenges uncovered from LR and TWI’s first joint industry project, “Certification of Laser Powder Additive Manufactured Components for Industrial Adoption in the Energy and Offshore Sectors.”
Even with the current market pressure in the maritime and energy industries, industry players continue to research, plan for and adopt additive manufacturing technologies for the production of metal parts – exploiting benefits such as weight reduction and the ability to print spare parts on demand.
What remains unexplored is the link between additive manufacturing and compliance with standards and regulations that are often used in safety-critical pieces of equipment, such as the American Petroleum Institute code (API), the American Society of Mechanical Engineer’s (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, and Europe’s Pressure Equipment Directive (PED).
“Achieving Regulatory and Code Compliance for Additive Manufacturing” will investigate the routes to regulatory compliance of parts selected by project sponsors, and will produce data and assessment criteria for the introduction and acceptance of parts through third-party inspection.
The second project, “Joining of Metallic Additively Manufactured Products and Materials” will concentrate on filling in the real-world gaps (e.g. controls, data, testing, inspection) to enable project sponsors to design, fabricate and put into service structures that are comprised of conventionally made parts welded with additively manufactured parts. Project sponsors will gain the confidence to put parts into service in real world, challenging operating environments and conditions, a significant step forward for industries such as energy, marine and offshore.
The projects further involve LR and TWI in the growing AM industry. Both companies are members of several working groups on additive manufacturing approaches and standardizations for industrial equipment and both offer services and support to help clients move from initial concepts and research through to manufacturing and in-service implementation. The owner of LR, the non-profit Lloyd’s Register Foundation, is also funding research programs to address wide-ranging safety challenges relating to additive manufacturing adoption over the coming years.
The launch meeting and project presentations will be held on Tuesday 24th January 2017 at TWI, Cambridge, United Kingdom and also via tele/video-conference.
Lloyd’s Register
additivemanufacturing@lr.org
