AM Bench Data Management Systems

AM Bench provides multiple systems and pathways for users to access, download, search, and analyze AM Bench data and metadata.  The AM Bench data management systems have been completely redesigned for AM Bench 2022.  The older AM Bench 2018 systems are still being maintained but, ultimately, the 2018 data and metadata will be transferred to the new systems.

AM BENCH 2022 DATA AND METADATA

AM Bench 2022 data and metadata access is being supported through several different mechanisms that target different user needs:

• AM Bench Website – Best source for information and data links concerning the AM Bench measurements, data, challenge problems, and conference series
• NIST Public Data Repository (PDR) – primary access to all public AM Bench measurement data
• Traditional publications in the journal Integrating Materials and Manufacturing Innovation, within the thematic section: AM-Bench 2022.  These papers are currently being published. A list of published AM Bench measurement papers may be found at https://www.nist.gov/ambench/direct-am-bench-data-links-and-referencing-guidance.
• Measurement catalog – searchable data and metadata curation system.
• SciServer – Free analysis and processing of large AM Bench data sets can be conducted directly on the data server using your own or provided codes. This avoids the need to download TBs of measurement data and provides easy analysis using a Jupyter notebook environment.  AM Bench data on SciServer is copied from the NIST PDR.
• AM Bench GitHub – AM Bench users will be able to share models and codes that can run on the AM Bench SciServer or at your home institution.

AM Bench Website

This website includes detailed background material on AM Bench, descriptions of all AM Bench measurements and challenge problems along with informational videos from the measurement teams, links to all public AM Bench data and metadata, schedules for upcoming AM Bench events, lists of the 2018 and 2022 AM Bench challenge problem award winners, and descriptions of the data management systems.

NIST Public Data Repository

All AM Bench public data are stored on the NIST Public Data Repository (PDR) and may be accessed through the NIST Science Data Portal which provides a user-friendly discovery and exploration tool for publicly available datasets at NIST. This portal is designed with FAIR principles and best practice for Federal Data Strategy. For Fair Use of these data, please include the citation provided on the PDR homepage in your works, including the Digital Object Identifier (DOI). NIST DOIs are registered with the DataCite organization and provide globally unique persistent identifiers. The DOI also serves as a direct link to data homepages giving access to the full research publication description and underlying datasets.

Direct links to the various AM Bench datasets in the PDR are provided on the AM Bench website at https://www.nist.gov/ambench/direct-am-bench-data-links-and-referencing-guidance.

Status as of December 18, 2023: All 2022 measurements are completed and 15 out of a planned 20 data publications have been published. The remaining 5 data publications are being prepared, reviewed, and published as quickly as possible.

Measurement Catalog

Measurement data are incomplete without the critical metadata describing the measurement instrument, instrument configuration, calibration, sample details, analysis methods, and many other factors. The AM Bench metadata are curated using the NIST Configurable Data Curation System (CDCS). The CDCS provides a method for capturing, sharing, and transforming unstructured data into a structured format based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML). Data and metadata are organized using AM Bench-developed templates encoded in XML Schema to create searchable data documents that are saved in a non-relational (NoSQL) document database.

AM Bench users can access the AM Bench CDCS at ambench2022.nist.gov. Documentation on using the CDCS may be found here.

Status as of December 18, 2023: Ambench2022.nist.gov is publicly accessible with a large subset of the AM Bench 2022 measurement data and metadata.  An expanded and updated version of the measurement catalog is currently under development.  

SciServer

Some of the AM Bench data sets are large (> 1 TB) and may require processing to extract desired quantities.  Since it is impractical to require all AM Bench users to download such large datasets and to develop all their own codes for extracting meaningful results, AM Bench is providing server-side processing through SciServer.  SciServer is operated by the Institute for Data Intensive Engineering and Science (IDIES) at JHU and is funded by the National Science Foundation through its Data Infrastructure Building Blocks (DIBBs) program. AM Bench users can apply for free virtual machines that include Jupyter notebooks and pre-installed software packages for AM Bench data analysis.  A mirror of the AM Bench public measurement data on the PDR is maintained on the SciServer platform and search features are available.

AM Bench users can register for a SciServer account at https://sciserver.org.  Detailed instructions for working with SciServer for AM Bench may be found at https://sciserver.org/support/getting-started-ambench. General Help may be found at https://www.sciserver.org/support/

Status as of December 18, 2023: The AM Bench SciServer is publicly accessible. The available data sets are being expanded as they are published in the PDR. 

AM Bench GitHub

As mentioned above, many of the AM Bench datasets can be processed and analyzed to obtain valuable information for validating model predictions and exploring connections between disparate phenomena.  Although some pre-written analysis codes are provided, it is expected that some AM Bench users will need to develop their own codes and algorithms for exploring these datasets.  We are providing a public AM Bench GitHub where the AM Bench users can share codes, strategies, and results.

Status as of December 18, 2023: The AM Bench GitHub repository is currently under development.

AM BENCH 2018 DATA AND METADATA

AM Bench 2018 data access is supported through multiple mechanisms similar to those described above:

• AM Bench Website – Best source for information and data links concerning the AM Bench measurements, data, challenge problems, and conference series
• NIST Public Data Repository (PDR) – access to a subset of the public AM Bench 2018 measurement data.  Links to these PDR publications may be found on the 2018 data access pages on the AM Bench website.
• Traditional journal publications including Integrating Materials and Manufacturing Innovation, within the thematic section: Additive Manufacturing Benchmarks 2018. 
• Measurement catalog – searchable data and metadata curation system.

Most of the AM Bench 2018 data have been published in journals, primarily in the journal Integrating Materials and Manufacturing Innovation, within the thematic section: Additive Manufacturing Benchmarks 2018.  Note that some of the publications are listed more than once since they include measurements from more than one set of benchmark measurements.

Overview

• Outcomes and Conclusions from the 2018 AM-Bench Measurements, Challenge Problems, Modeling Submissions, and Conference, Lyle Levine, Brandon Lane, Jarred Heigel, Kalman Migler, Mark Stoudt, Thien Phan, Richard Ricker, Maria Strantza, Michael Hill, Fan Zhang, Jonathan Seppala, Edward Garboczi, Erich Bain, Daniel Cole, Andrew Allen, Jason Fox, Carelyn Campbell, Integr Mater Manuf Innov (2020)

AMB2018-01 – Metal 3D Builds

• In situ measurements of melt pool length and cooling rate during 3D builds of the metal AM-Bench artifacts, Jarred C Heigel, Brandon M Lane, Lyle E Levine, Integr Mater Manuf Innov (2020)
• In Situ Thermography of the metal bridge structures fabricated for the 2018 Additive Manufacturing Benchmark Test Series (AM-Bench 2018), Jarred Heigel, Brandon Lane, Lyle Levine, Thien Phan, Justin Whiting, Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, 125, 125005 (2020)
• Phase Fraction and Evolution of Additively Manufactured (AM) 15-5 Stainless Steel and Inconel 625 AM-Bench Artifacts, Fan Zhang, Lyle Levine, Andrew Allen, Sandra Young, Maureen Williams, Mark Stoudt, Kil-Won Moon, Jarred Heigel, and Jan Ilavsky, Integr Mater Manuf Innov, 8, 362–377 (2019)
• Elastic residual strain and stress measurements and corresponding part deflections of 3D additive manufacturing builds of IN625 AM-Bench artifacts using neutron diffraction, synchrotron X-ray diffraction, and contour method, Thien Q. Phan, Maria Strantza, Mike R. Hill, Thomas H. Gnaeupel-Herold, Jarred Heigel, Christopher R. D’Elia, Adrian T. DeWald, Bjorn Clausen, Darren C. Pagan, J. Y. Peter Ko, Donald W. Brown, Lyle E. Levine, Integr Mater Manuf Innov, 8, 318-334 (2019)
• Location-specific Microstructure Characterization Within IN625 Additive Manufacturing Benchmark Test Artifacts, M.R. Stoudt, M.E. Williams, Lyle Levine, A. Creuziger, S.A. Young, J Heigel, B.M. Lane, T. Phan, Integr Mater Manuf Innov (2020)

AMB2018-02 – Individual Laser Traces on Bare Metal Plates

• Measurements of Melt Pool Geometry and Cooling Rates of Individual Laser Traces on IN625 Bare Plates, Brandon Lane, Jarred Heigel, Richard Ricker, Ivan Zhirnov, Vladimir Khromschenko, Jordan Weaver, Thien Phan, Mark Stoudt, Sergey Mekhontsev, Lyle Levine, Integr Mater Manuf Innov (2020)
• Topographic measurement of individual laser tracks in alloy 625 bare plates, Richard Ricker, Jarred Heigel, Brandon Lane, Ivan Zhirnov, Lyle Levine, Integr Mater Manuf Innov 8, 521-536 (2019)
• Location-specific Microstructure Characterization Within IN625 Additive Manufacturing Benchmark Test Artifacts, M.R. Stoudt, M.E. Williams, Lyle Levine, A. Creuziger, S.A. Young, J Heigel, B.M. Lane, T. Phan, Integr Mater Manuf Innov (2020)

AMB2018-03 – Polymer 3D Builds using Material Extrusion

• AMB2018-03: Benchmark physical property measurements for material extrusion additive manufacturing of polycarbonate, Daniel P. Cole, Frank Gardea, Todd C. Henry, Jonathan E. Seppala, Edward J. Garboczi, Kalman D. Migler, Christopher M. Shumeyko, Jeffrey R. Westrich, Sara V. Orski, Jeffrey L. Gair Jr., Integr Mater Manuf Innov (2020)

AMB2018-04 – Polymer 3D Builds using LPBF

• AMB2018-04: Benchmark Physical Property Measurements for Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing of Polyamide 12, Erich D. Bain, Edward J. Garboczi, Jonathan E. Seppala, Thomas C. Parker, Kalman B. Migler, Integr Mater Manuf Innov (2020)