TÜV SÜD offers certification for new ISO/ASTM standard
October 14, 2021
TÜV SÜD, Munich, Germany, now offers certification of industrial Additive Manufacturing sites in accordance with the new ISO/ASTM 52920 standard. The standard describes quality assurance requirements and forms part of the ISO/ASTM 52900 series, which outlines fundamental AM principles.
“Using the new standard, component manufacturers can streamline supplier audits to an enormous extent,” stated Simon Schlagintweit, Lead Auditor Additive Manufacturing, TÜV SÜD. “This facilitates the auditing process and ensures the quality of industrial-scale Additive Manufacturing throughout the supply chain.”
Even the smallest deviations in feedstock or machine calibration may adversely affect component stability. Given this, ISO/ASTM 52920 defines both quality-related factors in the process chain and processes at manufacturing sites.
The standard is divided into three aspects: ‘Qualification of the additive system operations’, ‘Quality assurance’ and ‘Verification of the part requirements’, while sub-aspects include data preparation, system setup and post-processing. Further clauses detail the continuous improvement process, part specifications and a validation plan.
The new standard adopts an integrated, rather than a product-specific approach, suitable for regulated sectors, including the automotive, rail, aerospace and medtech industries. It applies to all methods included in the scope of the ISO/ASTM 52900 standard and was developed in a collaboration between the ISO/TC 261 Additive Manufacturing and CEN/TC 438 Additive Manufacturing Processes Technical Committees of the French standardisation institute, Association française de normalisation (AFNOR). In Germany, the Additive Manufacturing working committee of the DIN Standards Committee Technology of Materials was involved in the development.
TÜV SÜD provides AM quality assurance support, including knowledgeable personnel, implementation of defined manufacturing processes and handling of special feedstock, as well as issues such as standardisation, delivery periods and reproducible quality. TÜV SÜD offers wide industry experience, and members of its team have participated in standardisation projects such as DIN SPEC 17071 ‘Additive Manufacturing – Requirements For Quality-Assured Processes At Additive Manufacturing Centres’ for the Deutsches Institut für Normung, the German ISO member body.
