The Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM) has established a new Centre of Compence for Additive Manufacturing (AM). It bundles various competences and expertise available at BAM - from the base materials and additive manufacturing technologies to the testing of the printed components. The primary goal is to bring additively manufactured components for safety-relevant areas, such as aerospace, into application more quickly.

Additive manufacturing makes it possible to produce complex components quickly and efficiently. In the manufacturing industry it is used, for example, to make prototypes and for plant engineering. Currently, only in exceptional cases and only after the commitment of extensive development resources is additive manufacturing used in safety-relevant areas such as aerospace or car manufacturing. One reason for the limited scope of the industrial use of additive manufacturing is a lack of criteria for assessing the quality and reliability of 3D printed products. Another is that existing findings and standards cannot be transferred one-to-one to additively manufactured components.

BAM's new Centre of Competence for Additive Manufacturing wants to change this. To this end, an interdisciplinary team was formed with experts from the fields of additive manufacturing technology, materials analysis, and non-destructive material testing. The team aims to develop solutions and advance additive manufacturing processes.

To support companies in setting up additive production chains, a wide range of services is available at BAM: from consulting regarding the choice of materials and the development of processes adapted to the materials to comprehensive testing and evaluation of the mechanical properties of components. For example, the Centre of Competence provides answers on how additively manufactured components deform at high temperatures and under mechanical loads and how these deformations can be calculated. With the development of new measuring methods, material defects could be reliably localised and, if possible, repaired during the manufacturing process in the future.

Furthermore, as part of the Quality Infrastructure Digital (QI-Digital) initiative, a networked and digitally monitored additive manufacturing chain will be created as a test environment for SMEs. It will map all relevant process steps from geometry data acquisition to additive manufacturing and post heat treatment to final non-destructive testing. This project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and aims to develop digital quality assurance for additive manufacturing.

To transfer scientific findings into production more quickly, the centre is closely connected with industry partners. For example, BAM works on collaborative research projects with the Werner-von-Siemens Centre for Industry and Science in Berlin.

"Additive manufacturing is a future technology that has gained immense importance in many industrial sectors - from aircraft and car manufacturing to medical technology and construction," says BAM President Prof. Dr Ulrich Panne. "With our new Centre of Competence for Additive Manufacturing, we support our customers in industry in further optimising their production processes and establishing reliable quality and safety standards for additively manufactured products."

"In the Centre of Competence, BAM offers a unique range of services along the additive process chain throughout Germany," emphasises Dr Kai Hilgenberg, Head of the Centre of Competence for Additive Manufacturing. "In our state-of-the-art research facilities, metallic, ceramic as well as concrete components can be manufactured, investigated and further developed using a wide range of 3D printing processes."