Additive Manufacturing according to ASTM
Additive Manufacturing is a process in which a digital 3D design is used to build up a component depositing material layer upon layer.
The term 3D Printing is increasingly used as a synonym for additive manufacturing. However, the latter is more accurate in that it describes a professional production technique which is clearly distinguished from traditional methods such as formative and subtractive manufacturing. Instead of milling a workpiece from a solid block, additive manufacturing builds up components layer by layer using materials in various different forms.
The process starts with the design of the component, either through CAD modelling or reverse engineering. A build preparation software is then used to set up the 3D model for the printing process: the part is fitted inside the build volume of the machine, support structures are then generated, and the whole print job is split into thin slices. These, which joined together make up the part design, is the data that the 3D Printing machine requires to build up the complete part.
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) group “ASTM F42 – Additive Manufacturing”, formulated a set of standards that classify the range of additive manufacturing processes into seven categories:
- Vat Photopolymerization: an additive manufacturing process in which liquid photopolymer in a vat is selectively cured by light-activated polymerisation.
- Material Extrusion: an additive manufacturing process in which material is selectively dispensed through a nozzle or orifice.
- Material Jetting: an additive manufacturing process in which droplets of build material are selectively deposited.
- Binder Jetting: an additive manufacturing process in which a liquid bonding agent is selectively deposited to join powder materials.
- Powder Bed Fusion: an additive manufacturing process in which thermal energy selectively fuses regions of a powder bed.
- Direct Energy Deposition: an additive manufacturing process in which focused thermal energy is used to fuse materials by melting as they are being deposited.
- Sheet Lamination: an additive manufacturing process in which sheets of material are bonded to form an object.
Powder Bed Fusion
ADDITIVA’s metal additive manufacturing process is “Powder Bed Fusion”, more specifically our technology is Selective Laser Melting (SLM), also called Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) or Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF). With our technology, it is possible to process metal alloys, to create durable components that find applications within Aerospace, Motorsport, Oil & Gas and more industries.
