This document provides guidelines to the manufacturing industry and a route for powder manufacturers and suppliers to obtain LR certification for metallic powders used for additive manufacturing (AM).
The intent is to provide certification guidance for those organisations producing powders, supplying powders and purchasing powders. This guidance document is informative for purchasers of AM parts.
Certification of metallic powders enables a powder manufacturer or supplier to demonstrate:
- Product assurance (confirms that the powder satisfies the requirements of the specification);
- Quality Control and production capability to the market;
- That products are qualified, thus streamlining the process for the AM supply chain;
- Consistency of production.
These guidelines include metallic powder intended for use in the following AM processes (as defined in ISO/ASTM 52900):
- Powder bed fusion by electron beam (PBF-EB);
- Powder bed fusion by laser beam (PBF-LB);
- Direct energy deposition by laser beam (DED-LB);
- Binder jetting (BJT).
These guidelines do not cover polymeric powders or powders designed for other manufacturing processes, such as powder metallurgy.