Standards organization ASTM International has announced a standard to outline the design process for technical ceramics using additive manufacturing (AM).
The additive manufacturing technologies committee (F42) in charge of this standard proposed a guide (WK84355) that will provide a framework for manufacturers to avoid shrinkage and embrittlement in AM ceramic product composition.
This is not the first move towards standardization in ceramic AM. ASTM International’s F42 committee has been working on ceramics alongside ISO/TC 261 for several years, and the first result of that collaboration was ISO/ASTM 52940 on the characterization of ceramic slurry feedstock for vat photopolymerization, published in November 2025.
A companion project on design is also well advanced: ISO/ASTM 52957, “Additive manufacturing of ceramics — Design guidelines,” began as a preliminary work item under ISO/TC 261/JG 82 in 2022 and is currently at Draft International Standard stage.
What WK84355 would add, therefore, is a dedicated set of design rules for AM ceramic parts.
According to ASTM member Brandon Cox, the guide will align the practical uses of AM ceramics with safe design criteria.
“Ceramics are known to be useful for their strength, heat resistance, hardness, chemical inertness and electrical insulation properties, while also being brittle and undergoing shrinkage during the final sintering process,” says Cox, lead engineer with Electron Optics Lab. “This guide could help customers and regulators evaluate whether AM ceramic parts were designed properly based on related technical needs.”
ASTM welcomes participation in the development of its standards.
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