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Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing

Instruments by Project

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National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Additive Manufacturing (AM) has a variety of tools for additive manufacturing. Click on the plus (+) icons below to explore our AM instruments by project. Each project provides a list of instrumentation and AM techniques it uses. 
For more information, visit the project pages linked below and contact the respective project leaders. 

Feel free to contact us with questions or opportunities to collaborate.

A hand in a purple glove turns a metal dial on a plate holding tiny vials of purple liquid.
Optical coherence tomography uses light waves to take cross sectional images of a sample.
Credit: R. Wilson/NIST

Click on the plus (+) icons below to explore instrumentation by projects.  

Visit project page.

  • Confocal Microscopes
  • Metallographic Equipment (Cutting, Grinding, Polishing, Mounting, Examining)
  • Micro and Macro Mechanical Testing Systems
  • NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR)
  • Optical Microscopes
  • Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
  • X-Ray Computed Tomography (XRCT)

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  • Acoustic Non-Destructive Evaluation
  • Atom Probe Tomography
  • Atomic Force Microscopy
  • Mechanical Testing (Including Small-Scale, High/Low Temperature, Extreme Environments, Static and Dynamic, etc.)
  • Microhardness Mapping
  • Nanoindentation Mapping
  • Optical Microscopy
  • Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
  • Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)
  • X-Ray Computed Tomography
  • X-Ray Diffraction

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Visit project page.

  • Electron Backscatter Diffraction
  • Laser Confocal
  • Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)

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Visit project page.

  • Arc Melter With Suction Casting
  • Differential Scanning Calorimeter
  • Electron Backscatter Diffraction
  • Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy
  • High Temperature Furnaces
  • Instrumented Hardness Indenter
  • Laboratory X-Ray Diffraction
  • Quenching Pushrod Dilatometer
  • Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
  • Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)

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Visit project page.

  • Compression and Tension Kolsky Bars (Often Referred to as Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar) (Strain Rates up to 5000 1/s, Temperatures to 1000 °C)
  • High Resolution Digital Image Correlation (DIC) Systems
  • High Speed Digital Image Correlation (DIC) Systems
  • High Speed Thermography System
  • High-Speed Servohydraulic Material Testing System (Velocities Up To 12 m/s)
  • Instrumented Indentation Tester
  • Instrumented Microhardness Indenter (Vickers, Berkovich, Knoop, and Flat Punch Tips
  • Knoop, Vickers, Brinell, and Rockwell Hardness Testers
  • "Quasi-Static Screw Driven Material Testing System (5 kN Capacity)"
  • Quasi-Static Servohydraulic Material Testing System (Velocities up to 50 mm/s and 50 kN Capacity)

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Visit project page.

  • Arc Melter With Suction Casting
  • Computer Controlled Potentiostat/Galvanostat   
  • Customized Electromechanical Tensile Frame
  • Electron Backscatter Diffraction
  • Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy
  • High Temperature Furnaces
  • Instrumented Hardness System
  • Laboratory X-Ray Diffraction
  • Metallographic Preparation Systems
  • Quenching Pushrod Dilatometer
  • Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
  • Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)

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  • Digital Holographic Microscopy
  • Optical Coherence Tomography

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  • Atomic Force Microscope
  • Anton Parr Shear Controlled Rheometer
  • ARES G2 Strain Controlled Rheometer
  • Capillary Rheometer
  • Ceramic Synthesis (High Energy Planetary Milling, High Speed Mixing, High Temperature Furnaces)
  • Cold Sintering Stage
  • Center for Theoretical and Computational Materials Science (CTCMS)
  • Focused Ion Beam (FIB)
  • NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR)
  • Sample Prep (Grinding, Cutting, Polishing)
  • Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
  • Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS)
  • Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM)
  • X-Ray Diffraction

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Visit project page.

  • Confocal Microscope
  • Planetary Mixer
  • Rheometer
  • Ring Tensiometer
  • Shear Cell

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  • Differential Scanning Calorimeter
  • Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer
  • Rotational Rheometer
  • Scanning Electron Microscope
  • Thermogravimetric Analyzer

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  • DART Mass Spectrometer
  • Multiple Commercial Trace Detectors
  • Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer

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  • Differential Scanning Calorimeter
  • Rheometer
  • Thermogravimetric Analyzer

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  • Atomic Force Microscope
  • Dynamic Mechanical Analysis
  • Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy
  • Nanoindentation
  • Optical Coherence Tomography
  • Rheometry
  • UV-Vis Spectroscopy
  • X-Ray Micro Computed Tomography

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Visit project page.

  • Various LC-MS, GC-MS, and Microscopy Characterization Tools
  • Advion ExpressION Single Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer
  • IonTOF TOF-SIMS
  • Ocean Insights Jaz UV-Vis
  • Ondax/Kaiser THz Raman Spectrometer
  • Shimadzu UV-Vis

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Visit project page.

  • ARES G2 Rheometer
  • CCD Cameras/Custom Print Heads, Conveyor Belts
  • DACA Microcompounder
  • Du Nuoy Ring Tensiometer 
  • DXR Raman Spectrometer
  • FLIR IR Camera
  • Link AM CSS450 Optical shear cell
  • NIST-Built Rheo-Raman Microscope
  • Olympus BX-51 Optical Microscope
  • Optical Camera
  • Photon High Speed Birefringence Camera
  • ThermoFisher Minijet Pro
  • ThermoFisher Process 11
  • Time-Gated Raman Spectrometer

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Visit project page.

  • NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR)
  • Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)

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  • Decay Energy Spectrometer
  • Materials Deposition Printer
  • Microfab Facility

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Use the cards below to return to our Instruments Overview page, explore our Instruments by Category, or Instruments by Location. 
 

a researcher uses a capillary rheometer to study polymer properties

Additive Manufacturing Instruments Overview

Learn more 
Electron backscatter diffraction for additive manufacturing. Colorized micrograph shows vertical bands in red, pink, and orange.

Instruments by Category

Learn more 
Early morning aerial view of NIST's Boulder, Colorado, campus, the Flatiron Mountains are in the background

Instruments by Location

Learn more 
Manufacturing, Additive manufacturing, Materials, Metrology and Standards

Contacts

Additive Manufacturing Program Coordinator

Created December 9, 2024, Updated January 22, 2025