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Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing

Additive Manufacturing of Metals

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National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Additive Manufacturing (AM) studies the characteristics, properties, and behaviors of metals to develop metrology tools and measurement standards. If you are interested in collaboration opportunities, or want to learn more about our efforts in metals AM, please contact us.

Learn about our metals AM work by exploring the content below: 
Projects | News | Technologies | Publications

a 3D metal printer produces a complex steel part
Our AM team has projects dedicated to metals research, such as functional parts development, like the 3D printed part pictured above.
Credit: Adobe Stock

Projects

Click the plus icon (+) below to learn about our additive manufacturing of metals projects. 

Additive Manufacturing Fatigue and Fracture

Metal additive manufacturing is not used in fatigue and fracture critical applications despite industrial need. The goal of this project is to enable confident use of metal AM in critical applications through several methods. Read more.  

Project Leader: Nik Hrabe

Build plate of additively manufactured (AM) metal parts with microstructure comparison between wrought and AM material
Metal AM parts used for AM Bench 2018 (top) and a microstructure comparison (bottom) between wrought (left) and stress relieved AM (right) IN625

Additive Manufacturing of Metals

Additive Manufacturing of Metals (AMOM) and its subprojects enable new pathways for innovative materials design of additively manufactured metal alloys through a foundation of materials science, measurement science, and data science that focuses on localized and in situ measurements of process-structure-property-performance relationships at relevant time and length scales. Read more.

Advanced Materials Design: Structural Applications

The current project focus is on the development of high temperature Co-based superalloys, the development of new materials specifically designed for AM processing, and the optimization of currently used AM materials. Read more.

Project Leader: Carelyn Campbell

Multifunctional 3D Printable Polymer-Metal Composites

Our goal is to support innovation and fundamental research in additive manufacturing of multifunctional materials with low energy consumption, facilitating the transition from cutting-edge materials science to future AM technologies for multifunctional 3D hierarchical metallic and composite structures. Read more.

Project Leader: Ran Tao

Additive Manufacturing Benchmark Test Series

Additive Manufacturing Benchmark Test Series (AM Bench) provides a continuing series of AM benchmark measurements, challenge problems, and conferences with the primary goal of enabling modelers to test their simulations against rigorous, highly controlled additive manufacturing benchmark measurement data. Read more. 

Project Leader: Lyle Levine

Measurement Science for Additive Manufacturing

The Measurement Science for Additive Manufacturing is a program in the Engineering Laboratory featuring several projects primarily focused on metals-based additive manufacturing applications and technologies. The program aims to develop and deploy advances in measurement science that will enable rapid design-to-product transformation through: material characterization; in-process sensing, monitoring, and model-based optimal control; performance qualification of materials, machines, processes and parts; and end-to-end digital implementation and analysis of Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes and systems. Read more.

Project Leaders: Brandon Lane & Paul Witherell

Fundamental Measurements for Metal AM

To instill confidence and aid adoption of AM as a viable technology for production in critical applications, a strong understanding of how to measure, characterize and qualify AM parts, processes, and feedstock materials is required. Experts in powder testing and characterization, surface topography, defect detection, x-ray computed tomography, dimensional characterization, instrumented indentation, destructive melt pool characterization, and laser material interactions are working together to produce a broad range of products. Read more.

Project Leader: Jason Fox

Advanced Machines, Monitoring, and Control for AM

Despite its potential, widespread adoption of AM technology faces two major obstacles - inconsistent part quality and low production efficiency. This project will address these challenges by developing and implementing advanced AM control and monitoring methods and demonstrate their positive impact on enhancing part quality and efficiency by integrating these innovations into AM machines/testbeds. Read more.

Project Leader: Ho Yeung

Metrology for AM Model Validation

Multi-physics and data-driven models are necessary to simulate, study, and optimize metal additive manufacturing (AM) processes, such as powder bed fusion (PBF) and directed energy deposition (DED). This project, along with a large number of collaborators across NIST and outside research organization, aims to provide trusted measurement data for the purpose of AM model validation, primarily disseminated through the Additive Manufacturing Benchmark Test Series (AM-Bench). Read more.

Project Leader: Brandon Lane

Advanced Informatics and Artificial Intelligence for Additive Manufacturing

Advancements in additive manufacturing are progressively driven by digital technologies, with advanced sensors and measurements informing increasingly complex modeling and simulation paradigms and playing an important role in part design, production and qualification.  Advanced informatics are providing new opportunities to harness trusted data and information to acquire knowledge and develop actionable assessments in complex AM systems and environments. Read more.

Project Leader: Paul Witherell

Data Management and Fusion for AM Industrialization

The maturation of additive manufacturing (AM) into an industrialization (wide-scale production) technology requires an expanded notion of integration of both AM systems and AM data.  AM data integration and analytics need to scale up as well to automate workflows and improve decision-making across the AM supply chain. Read more.

Project Leader: Yan Lu

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News

Click the plus icon (+) below to explore news about our metals additive manufacturing efforts. 

Spotlight: Searching for 3D-Printed Titanium’s Breaking Point With Jake Benzing

We have researchers who break stuff so that others can live their lives without stuff breaking down prematurely. Meet one of them, materials research engineer Jake Benzing. Read more. 

May 24, 2023

Jake Benzing wears safety glasses as he bends over to adjust piece of scientific equipment in the lab.
Jake testing the fortitude of a 3D-printed titanium part. 
Credit: R. Wilson/NIST

By Cracking a Metal 3D-Printing Conundrum, Researchers Propel the Technology Toward Widespread Application

Gaps in our understanding of what happens within metal during the additive manufacturing process have made results inconsistent, but a new breakthrough could grant an unprecedented level of mastery over metal 3D printing. Read more.
 
March 20, 2023

Diagram shows X-rays diffraction during 3D printing, with colorized microscopic image showing the orientation of different grains within the material.
Researchers used high-speed X-ray diffraction to identify the crystal structures that form within steel as it is 3D-printed.

 
Credit: H. König et al. via Creative Commons (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), adapted by N. Hanacek/NIST

New Research Could Help Manufacturers Avoid 3D-Printing Pitfall

For destressing printed metal parts, "island scanning" may not be the cure-all after all. Read more. 

May 19, 2021

Illustration shows 3D printing patterns as red arrows on gray rectangles.
The researchers tested four different printing patterns, with the lasers either melting the powdered metal back and forth continuously or in distinct square islands and either running parallel to the long side of the part or diagonal to it.
Credit: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory/M. Strantza

Spotlight: Exploring Potential Corrosion in 3D-Printed Titanium

Putting the metalloid to the metal, researchers at Boise State University developed a new way to explore how a 3D-printed titanium alloy corrodes, and then sought NIST expertise in mapping out a material’s microstructure to get the full picture of the process. Read more. 
 
February 12, 2021

Microscope image shows multicolored jagged shapes
Atomic force microscopy map of additively manufactured metal-to-metalloid material. 
Credit: J. Benzing/NIST

NIST Releases Findings from the NIST/ASTM Workshop on Mechanical Behavior of Additive Manufacturing Components

NIST held a workshop May 4-5, 2016, during the ASTM 2016 Committee Week in San Antonio, TX to determine and prioritize the research, standards, and data needs required to overcome the barriers to the acceptance of AM parts for fatigue and fracture critical applications. Read more. 

January 6, 2017

Fracture surface of additive manufactured titanium alloy
Fracture surface of AM (electron beam melting) titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) high-cycle fatigue fracture surface showing crack initiation at internal lack-of-fusion defect (white arrow).

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Technologies

NIST has several tools for metals additive manufacturing. Explore the example below and navigate to Additive Manufacturing Technologies to learn more.

Directed Energy Deposition for Metal Additive Manufacturing

This video showcases a special optical technique called Schlieren imaging to visualize thermal plumes created by directed energy deposition (DED). A conical nozzle points down to a surface and metal powder particles flow from the nozzle, as does a room temperature flow of shield gas. A laser (invisible in the video) heats and melts the surface, and the powder particles melt on contact and freeze to form a solid deposit. The shield gas interacts with the melt pool and heats up, forming turbulent wall jets that flow away in all directions from the melt pool. The heated gas becomes visible because the light used to form the image is bent by the density gradients existing between the hot wall jets and the cooler surroundings. 

The video also shows significant “spatter” of hot and possibly molten particles ejected away from the melt pool under the influence of the cold shield gas flow impinging the surface. Each ejected particle has its own little thermal plume. 

The visualization allows researchers to understand how laser power, shield gas flow rate, particle flow rate and stand off distance influence the gas flow environment as metal is deposited in this DED additive manufacturing process.

Black and white gif of particles and gas flowing from a nozzle.
Schlieren imaging of thermal plumes created by directed energy deposition (DED) for metal additive manufacturing. Detailed description in text body.
Credit: Steve Mates (NIST) & Samantha Webster (Colorado School of Mines)

NIST AM publishes research in additive manufacturing of metals. View some of our publications here.

Manufacturing, Additive manufacturing, Materials, Metrology and Standards

Contacts

Additive Manufacturing Program Coordinators

Created November 13, 2024, Updated April 14, 2025