‘Achieving Regulatory and Code Compliance for Additive Manufacturing’ and ‘Joining of Metallic Additively Manufactured Products and Materials’ are expected to attract interest from companies worldwide, as they will further explore challenges uncovered from LR and TWI’s first joint industry project, ‘Certification of Laser Powder Additive Manufactured Components for Industrial Adoption in the Energy and Offshore Sectors’.
AM, also referred to as 3D printing, has already been widely adopted by the aerospace and medical industries due to its ability to create complex and customised metal parts with not only a high level of precision, but also with reduced weight and high material utilisation.
Even with the current market pressure in the maritime and energy industries, industry players continue to research, plan for and adopt AM technologies for the production of metal parts – exploiting benefits such as weight reduction and the ability to print spare parts on demand.
What remains unexplored is the link between AM and compliance with standards and regulations that are often used in safety-critical pieces of equipment, such as Europe’s Pressure Equipment Directive (PED). ‘Achieving Regulatory and Code Compliance for Additive Manufacturing’ will investigate 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’ will concentrate on filling in the real-world gaps ̶ controls, data, testing, inspection, etc ̶ to enable project sponsors to design, fabricate and put into service structures that are comprised of conventionally made parts welded with AM parts. Project sponsors will gain the confidence to put parts into service in real-world, challenging operating environments and conditions, which is a significant step forward for industries such as energy, marine and offshore.
Both LR and TWI are members of several working groups on AM approaches and standardisations for industrial equipment and both offer services and support to help clients move from initial concepts and research through to manufacturing and in-service implementation. The Lloyd’s Register Foundation, is also funding research programmes to address wide-ranging safety challenges relating to AM adoption over the coming years.
