ASTM and partners establish National Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence

Worldwide technical standards organization ASTM Intl. has announced a partnership with North American engineering and technology firm EWI and an Auburn University-NASA collective to establish the National Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence, located in Auburn’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering in Alabama.

Auburn University and NASA cosigned a Space Act Agreement to explore and advance the applications of additive manufacturing (AM) in August 2018. An extension of this relationship and NASA’s decades-long partnership with ASTM, the National Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence is led by Dr. Nima Shamsaei, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Auburn University, and Doug Wells, senior engineer of structural materials at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

AM projects at the MSFC include part production for the next-generation Space Launch System, expected to include more 3-D-printed parts than any rocket to date.

Todd May, director of the MSFC, shared his vision of the new Center of Excellence: “Additive manufacturing is a rapidly evolving field. Advancements in this area will aid the development of more capable and lower-cost launch vehicles and spacecraft to benefit all of NASA’s science, engineering, and spaceflight endeavors.”

Auburn also is working with industry partners such as GE Additive, developing high-volume AM for jet engine fuel nozzles. In addition to R&D projects, the university will be responsible for developing comprehensive training and education resources.

EWI will generate strategic industry consortia to contribute to the center. Mohsen Seifi, director of global additive manufacturing programs at ASTM Intl., currently is handling stakeholders interested in contributing to the National Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence. The center is supported by ASTM via funding, goods in-kind, and other miscellaneous services.