1. Scope

This document establishes the required or the achievable classes of part properties for additive manufactured polymer parts in order to get a common understanding on part quality. It is aimed at providers of manufacturing services for polymer parts who use additive manufacturing machines and at the customers for these services. Designers of parts as well as buyers and providers of manufacturing services can specify, in a traceable manner, the required or the achievable level of part properties with the aid of this standard. This document applies to parts that have been manufactured from a thermoplastic polymer by means of powder bed fusion with laser for polymers (PBF-LB/P), alternatively named laser sintering (LS) or material extrusion (MEX). Its applicability to other processes for polymers shall be checked in the specific case. NOTE Laser sintering is also known as selective laser sintering (SLS). NOTE The process called material extrusion (MEX) in ISO/ASTM 52900 is also known as fused layer modelling (FLM), fused layer manufacturing or fused deposition modelling (FDM) or fused filament fabrication (FFF). The classification of part properties apply to parts that have not been post-processed after unpacking from the build space and after removing possible support structures.

Keywords

AM; parts; polymer

Rationale

The goal of this document is to improve the communication between providers and users of additive manufactured polymer parts in relation to the part quality to be supplied. For this purpose, quality criteria and part properties are categorised into a system of quality classes. In the additive manufacturing processes relevant for polymers, the part properties depend very heavily on the machine systems, the material and the process control used. Typically, the process control can be optimised for productivity or quality. These goals are in principle contradictory in the context of the performance of a specific machine. The property classes listed in this standard help to make clear the differences in quality. The property classes enable the user to define part specifications for manufacturing. Along with the specification of the property classes, this standard states which property classes can be achieved with typical materials. Test specimens and their arrangement in the build space are specified (The related CAD data are included with this document as positioned STL data.). The determination of the mechanical tensile properties, the dimensional accuracy and the part density with the aid of these test specimens is described to make possible the assignment to property classes for the related characteristic values. Once approved, this standard will carry the designation ISO/ASTM 52924, per the PSDO agreement between IO & ASTM.

The title and scope are in draft form and are under development within this ASTM Committee.