Certification of additively manufactured materials for maritime application

For additive manufacturing (AM) products such as structural and machinery components, the quality should be verified. In maritime industry, this task is performed by classification societies who are acting as independent third party and certifying such components. In the case of, eg, cast‐steel products, standards are available, which specify sampling procedures, properties, and destructive and nondestructive test methods as well as relevant material requirements for design purposes. For AM products, currently only few supportive standards are available. In tough market situation products must be cost‐efficient. Therefore, mandatory verification of products can only be enforced for vital applications. Unified, meaningful sampling and testing scopes are needed for application at different manufacturing locations and for evaluation by “no AM expert” staff. The impact of manufacturing defects in the AM process on the integrity on the AM product has to be evaluated. Contract partners may, or have to ask for evidence for the integritiy of AM products by certificates issued by third‐party institutions. DNV GL as a classification society has set up procedures for initial qualification and certification of AM products. This paper focusses on inspection and certification of AM maritime products and fit‐for‐purpose assessment.