Quality Assurance and Technology Qualification for Additive Manufacturing of Metallic Pressure Components

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as three-dimensional (3D) printing of materials, has gained popularity in recent years. AM can be used to produce customized products with complicated geometries that are difficult to manufacture otherwise. While technology for plastic components has spread rapidly, production methods for metallic components are still in their infancy. The major area of concern is quality assurance to provide confidence in the reproducibility and reliability of the parts. This is of particular importance for critical service applications, such as in pressurized environments. While the details of the methods of AM vary, from laser sintering of powders to electron beam welding, there are key concepts that connect all the various AM methods and that should be capitalized on for Technology Qualification (TQ). This paper aims to review the needs for the quality assurance, applying the concepts of technology qualification, threat assessment, and risk based verification to the technology of additive manufacturing of metallic pressure retaining parts.