Analysis of General and Specific Standardization Developments in Additive Manufacturing From a Materials and Technological Approach

Abstract

Additive manufacturing processes and products are very present in the current productive landscape, and in fact these technologies have been one of the most intensively studied and improved during the last years; however, there is still no defined and homogeneous regulatory context for this field. In this work, a thorough review of the main general and specific regulatory developments in design, materials and processes standards for additive manufacturing has been carried out, with special attention to the standards for mechanical characterization of polymer-based products. In many cases standards developed for other productive contexts are identified as recommended references, and some contradictory trends can be identified when different documents and previous experiences are consulted. Thus, as it is logical considering that all these technologies are involved in an intensive and continuous evolution process, there is a certain lack of clarity regarding the standards to be considered. This work aims to contribute to clarify the current standardization context in additive manufacturing and provide some guidelines for the identification of appropriate standards. The paper also emphasizes that the key for next regulatory developments in mechanical testing is to develop standards that consider particular AM processes along with materials. Moreover, a great gap between available standard about additive technologies based on metallic materials and polymer materials during the last years has been detected. Finally, the provided overview is considered of interest as support for research and practice in additive manufacturing, and both in intensive productive scenarios and for particular users and makers.

A Theoretical and Experimental Research on the Influence of FDM Parameters on Tensile Strength and Hardness of Parts Made of Polylactic Acid

“…The specimen model was designed using Autodesk Inventor software [14], transformed into STL format, and the G-code was made using the 3D printer software Creality Slicer [15]. In this software the change of parameters was possible.…”

Optimization Methodology for Additive Manufacturing of Customized Parts by Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). Application to a Shoe Heel

“…In any case, currently, additive manufacturing technologies also have some limitations. The standardization of some processes and products is an example [ 18 , 19 ]. Also, the materialization of the pieces itself presents some limitations, with special attention to the effects of process parameters [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ], a topic widely studied in the scientific literature.…”

Integration of Additive Manufacturing, Parametric Design, and Optimization of Parts Obtained by Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). A Methodological Approach

“…Restrictions imposed by productive processes must be taken into account when designing a product, since ignoring these limitations would lead to failure in the materialization phase. In this sense, additive manufacturing eliminates some restrictions in comparison to traditional manufacturing technologies, but they also have limitations regarding to technologies themselves and the influence of manufacturing parameters [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ], materials behavior [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ] or context aspects, such as the standardization of these kind of processes and products [ 9 , 28 , 29 ]. Additive manufacturing gives great freedom to designs, and it allows the obtaining of very complex geometries that were previously impossible, especially with regard to interior cavities.…”

“…Furthermore, the increasing access of FDM technology equipment encourage its massive interest and use providing technological tools for mass customization approaches. The influence of the materials and technologies used required some previous studies focused on these aspects [ 9 , 28 ].…”