ASTM International Selects EWI, Auburn University-NASA as Partners for Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence

Toward the end of last year, international standards organization ASTM International announced that it was seeking partners for the creation of an Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence. The organization put out a call for proposals from those interested in collaboration, and stated that it would choose two winners from the pool of applicants. Today, ASTM announced those winners: EWI and Auburn University-NASA. The two were chosen from dozens of applicants that submitted proposals in December.

“This game-changing collaboration will build a strong foundation for the future of additive manufacturing. The synergy among Auburn, NASA, and EWI – combined with the trailblazing work of ASTM’s additive manufacturing committee – will help fill industry gaps and accelerate innovation. It’s clear that this new center has the potential to shape the future of industries like aerospace, auto, medical, and more,” said Katharine Morgan, President of ASTM International. “The Center of Excellence is going to facilitate us bringing together the best technical experts in industry, government, and academia, and that’s going to help us develop the very best standards for this emerging technology,” said Katharine Morgan, the President of ASTM International, referring to the second center of excellence, which includes Auburn and NASA as well as EWI and the UK-based Manufacturing Technology Centre.

The organizations and their partners will work together to build a global innovation hub that advances technical standards, related R&D, education and training, and more. With funding, in-kind, and other support from ASTM, the selected organizations will focus on bridging standards development with R&D.

EWI, which has a history of developing, testing and implementing advanced manufacturing technologies, will work on building industry consortia.

“We are thrilled to be helping lead this new center of excellence with ASTM International, Auburn University, and NASA,” said Dr. Frank Medina, AM Technology Leader at EWI. “We look forward to bringing AM industry leaders to the table and working with them to identify challenges, advance groundbreaking standards, and drive innovation in this fast-growing area.”

Auburn University will develop education and training resources and tools, as well as carrying out research.

“Our college has made major investments in faculty, laboratories, and equipment to achieve a leadership position in additive manufacturing. The efforts by our faculty are resulting in significant dividends to our research program. To be recognized by ASTM International is quite an honor and we look forward to a productive, collaborative relationship with ASTM and EWI,” said Christopher Roberts, Dean of Auburn University’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.

Auburn University’s proposal was led by Dr. Nima Shamsaei, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He is to be one of the principal investigators along with Doug Wells, Senior Engineer of Structural Materials at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

“NASA and ASTM International have had a decades-long relationship in developing aerospace and aviation standards that benefit NASA’s mission and the industry as a whole,” said John Vickers, NASA’s Principal Technologist in Additive Manufacturing. “We look forward to working with Auburn and EWI to link R&D and standardization efforts that will uncover the vast potential of additive manufacturing applications.”

Other stakeholders interested in the Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence can contact Moshen Seifi, Director of Global Additive Manufacturing Programs at ASTM.

ASTM is also considering opening an additional Center of Excellence outside the United States, selecting partners from its existing pool of applicants.

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[Images: Auburn University]