Materials Science for Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) is causing fundamental changes in the way mechanical parts are produced. Where typical manufacturing cuts away or molds material into products, AM uses digital designs to fabricate complex, three-dimensional products that are built up, layer-by-layer. This process, also known as 3-D printing, can produce complex designs using less material and generating less waste than traditional manufacturing. NIST’s Material Measurement Laboratory (MML) is developing comprehensive measurement science standards and reference materials for AM, with the goal of helping U.S. manufacturers integrate AM into their processes.

What is Additive Manufacturing?

Additive manufacturing (or 3-D printing) fabricates parts by building them up layer-by-layer (as opposed to cutting material away or molding it). The field shows great promise for a diversity of applications, from lightweighting aerospace structures to creating customized biomedical implants. 3-D printing is one of several approaches to additive manufacturing (AM). The image on the left shows the scrap generated from traditional manufacturing and the image on the right shows how AM builds parts layer by layer.

How Is MML Helping?

NIST's Material Measurement Laboratory (MML) performs AM research to better understand the characteristics and behaviors of materials (specifically metals, polymers, ceramics, and biomaterials). It also creates standard reference materials (SRMs) that researchers and industry use for calibration, research and development, and to adhere to rules and regulations. These understandings and reference materials benefit commerce and U.S. competitiveness by providing necessary information to make U.S. manufacturing more efficient.

You can find more information about NIST’s broader work in this space on the AM overview page.
 

MML AM Thrusts

MML focuses on foundational science and characterization tool development in several material types, including metals, polymers, ceramics and biomaterials.

MML has three thrusts dedicated to AM: 

• Materials Metrology

• Data

• Standards

Materials Metrology

This thrust area involves the development of in situ and ex situ metrology tools and measurement science to drive industry-wide innovation. MML AM aims to provide foundational understanding of structure and material properties at all relevant stages of the printing process (from feedstock to final part). These foundational understandings provide the necessary tools for making informed decisions during product design, development, and further materials research.  

Data

MML AM works to produce streamlined/expedited qualification and certification to enable AM adoption as a sustainable manufacturing technology. Harnessing the utility of AM datasets drives novel material and processing development using materials design approaches that integrate processing-structure-property-performance models and experiments with machine learning and AI techniques.

Standards

Utilizing NIST’s unique commerce-driven mission, MML AM facilitates documentary standards development through public-private partnerships.

Additive Manufacturing Projects in MML

MML's AM program focuses on foundational science and characterization tool development in several material types, including metals, polymers, ceramics, and biomaterials. It also does fundamental metrology research for materials more broadly.