Jan 17, 2017 | By Tess
International welding institute TWI and global engineering, technical, and business services organization Lloyd’s Register have teamed up to launch two new research projects geared towards exploring standards and regulatory compliances for additive manufacturing technologies. The organizations previously worked together on another 3D printing-related project, entitled “Certification of laser powder additive manufactured components for industrial adoption in the energy and offshore sectors.”
Within the 3D printing industry, particularly the industrial 3D printing sector, establishing standards, codes, and regulations has remained something of a challenge. As one can imagine, bringing in a new manufacturing technology also means coming up with new testing methods—for materials, structural components, and more. Fortunately, many researchers, companies, and organizations have taken up the challenge and have dedicated themselves to establishing such standards and regulations.
TWI and Lloyd’s Register are two such organizations, and they have teamed up yet again to address current challenges that face industrial 3D printing. Their two joint projects, called “Achieving regulatory and code compliance for additive manufacturing” and “Joining of metallic additively manufactured products and materials,” are expected to officially launch on January 24, 2017 at a TWI meeting in Cambridge, UK.
As revealed in a press release, the first of the two projects will explore “the routes to regulatory compliance of parts selected by project sponsors, and will produce data and assessment criteria for the introduction and acceptance of parts through third-party inspection. This will give them a head start on their competition by receiving technical services and support covering design and manufacturing through to testing and inspection.”
The second project, “Joining of metallic additively manufactured products and materials,” aims to facilitate the process of designing, fabricating, and servicing parts made up of both 3D printed and welded components. This will involve addressing “real-world gaps” that currently exist in terms of controls, data, testing, and inspection. By the end of the project, TWI and Lloyd’s Register hope to give the project sponsors the confidence to bring said parts into use, especially in such industries as energy, marine, and offshore.
Both TWI and Lloyd’s Register have dedicated time and resources to additive manufacturing-related research, especially in the area of exploring and establishing standardization approaches for industrial equipment. In addition to their joint projects, both companies also offer clients support in terms of integrating 3D printing and advanced manufacturing into their production processes. Both companies are part of a number of additive manufacturing working groups and the owner of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation (LR) has also funded research that deals with the safety challenges brought about by the adoption of additive manufacturing technologies.
Posted in 3D Printing Technology
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