Standardization in additive manufacturing (AM) is essential to advance the industry by promoting a shared understanding and ensuring compatibility across machines, materials, and software. It drives consistency in design, processes, and quality assurance, which are critical for widespread adoption.  

Without industry-wide standards, AM faces challenges such as inconsistent material properties and weak digital infrastructure, especially in safety-critical sectors like aerospace, medical, and defense. The rapid evolution of software and AI tools further complicates this landscape, introducing variability that hinders the transition from research and development (R&D) to mass production.  

As high-performance industries increasingly rely on AM for innovation, the need for broadly accepted, harmonized standards is paramount. This growing demand is driving organizations, regulatory bodies, and certifying agencies to move beyond siloed, and sometimes conflicting, standards toward consistent protocols. To address this, America Makes – The National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute – and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) launched the Additive Manufacturing Standardization Collaborative (AMSC) in 2016. The AMSC was formed to accelerate the development of comprehensive, industry-wide standards and specifications that meet stakeholder needs and support the advancement of the AM industry. 

Convening some of the brightest minds across industry, academia, and government, the collaborative identified the following key focus areas: 

• Minimize duplication efforts of AM standardization  
• Increase coordination across standards developing organizations (SDOs) and subject matter experts 
• Improve industry knowledge share to inform decision-making on resource allocation for standards participation and R&D needs 
• Clarify current and desired future standardization landscape 
• Establish a common framework of AM standards and specifications 

Overcoming AM standardization complexities  

Today, standards development often exceeds reasonable limits, resulting in an overwhelming number of overlapping standards that create confusion and dilute the effectiveness, integrity, and relevance of established practices. Moreover, considering AM’s maturity, the lack of standardization across material and process development also hinders forward movement. 

To answer industry need, ANSI efforts are addressing critical technological gaps while driving targeted pre-standardization R&D. By outlining existing standards and proposing strategic timelines for development, ANSI is paving the way for step-change progression for a unified approach to advancing the industry. 

For example, AMSC developed the Standardization Roadmap for Additive Manufacturing to serve as a guide for the broader industry. The initial technology roadmap (Version 1.0), released in 2017, focused heavily on metallic AM for the aerospace, defense, and medical sectors. Building on those insights, a second iteration was released in 2018 and included polymer applications and the electronics sector. Version 3.0, published in 2023, incorporated significant discoveries related to data working groups, identified metadata gaps across industry sectors to improve filtering capabilities, and outlined new opportunities alongside updates on R&D initiatives. Approximately 300 individuals from 150 public- and private-sector organizations participated in updating Version 3.0, which identified high, medium, and low priority critical standardization gaps across the AM lifecycle, encompassing design, materials, process control, post-processing, and data management. These roadmaps serve as key knowledge hubs, capturing the latest in standardization activity affecting the AM sector. 

Based on these roadmaps, three Gaps Progress Reports were created to enhance knowledge sharing regarding updates on standards, research, and conformity assessment activities. These reports not only document suggested modifications to existing gaps but also identify those for consideration in future roadmaps. The latest report was published in April 2025. 

From a broader perspective, the gaps report provides an opportunity for widespread reach with current efforts being made to integrate datasets across diverse industry regulatory bodies, to improve AM qualification methodologies. By aligning with established industry standards, AMSC aims to create a systematic approach that enhances consistency and communication between manufacturers and regulators to streamline the qualification process. 

Accelerating qualification and certification  

A significant barrier to effective AM standardization is qualification. Unlike traditional manufacturing, which relies on a long history of trusted and validated processes and thorough verification, AM faces challenges due to limited material availability, novelty, and potential variability, necessitating rigorous scrutiny to ensure consistent part quality. Additionally, as AM transitions from prototyping to large-scale production, supply chain gaps further complicated qualification, making it time-consuming and costly.  

To address these challenges, validating statistical datasets in AM is key to improving reliability, consistency, and safety. This includes analyzing process variability and setting performance metrics. By utilizing statistical analysis, stakeholders can make informed decisions and standardize practices to increase confidence in AM and exploit its full potential in modern manufacturing. 

Recognizing this technology gap, the Institute, alongside its ongoing work with AMSC, is spearheading projects directed by the Department of Defense (DoD) to increase datasets for novel materials used in mission-critical applications. One such initiative is the Proliferation of Nickel Superalloy Material Datasets for Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing project. Led by EPRI, this effort focuses on developing ABD®900-AM, a nickel alloy engineered to endure extreme temperatures while offering the printability of lower-temperature alloys. This project aims to create statistically based datasets for inclusion in the Metallic Materials Properties Development and Standardization (MMPDS) database, which is a trusted resource used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DoD, and NASA. The necessary rigor involved in creating such datasets requires working closely with SDOs to ensure existing standards are being followed and understanding what new standards may need to be created via committee such as powder and printed-material standards. 

Ultimately, this project demonstrates how AM standardization can advance material qualification, strengthen supply chain resilience, and enable cross-industry technology transfer – all of which are foundational for the broader industrialization and widespread AM adoption. 

Disseminating best practices for growth  

Considering the vastness and complexity of this issue, partnerships like ASMC are essential for effective knowledge sharing and promoting a unified framework across the industry, underscoring the vital role of America Makes in these efforts.  

The Institute recently co-hosted a standards forum during its 2025 Spring Technical Review and Exchange (TRX) held in conjunction with RAPID + TCT in Detroit. The forum convened representatives and experienced users from key SDOs, who shared real-world use cases highlighting overlapping standards and emphasized the importance of regulatory compliance, qualification, and certification in sectors such as automotive, medical, and aerospace.  

John Martin, Additive Manufacturing Research Director at America Makes, spearheaded discussions that addressed the current challenges in establishing and validating AM materials, process qualification, process control, and part classification, with the AMSC at the forefront. A significant topic was the DoD's initiatives to collaborate with industry stakeholders on integrating standards and protocols that promote advancements in AM technology across the Defense Industrial Base.  

ASMC: Collaboration for AM standard advancement 

Standardization is the foundation for the future of AM – ensuring consistent quality, reliable performance, and seamless interoperability across technologies, materials, and processes.  

As industry navigates existing challenges, the development of widely accepted AM standards presents opportunities for new markets and innovative business models. Collaborative initiatives like ASMC are essential in addressing these barriers by sharing best practices, refining regulatory framework, and enhancing operational efficiency. By improving understanding of AM technologies and streamlining qualification processes, these efforts help overcome supply chain constraints and reduce production costs. Ultimately, standardization not only fosters economic growth but also accelerates AM innovation and bolsters U.S. global competitiveness.