BMT Aerospace chooses DNV for AM process qualification

Additive Manufacturing is making its way into various industries as a viable technique for serial production. Its benefits in design freedom, lead time reduction and supply chain benefits are clear, yet the lack of relevant standards is limiting mass adoption. This is the main reason for DNV to create the Additive Manufacturing standards DNVGL-ST-B203 for the Energy and Maritime industries. ProGRAM JIP Phase II has seen Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion (EB-PBF) technology successfully added to the standard. Following JIP Phase II, BMT Aerospace has chosen DNV for Facility Certification and Part Production Specification (PPS) for EB-PBF process, according to the DNV service specification DNVGL-ST-0568.

Certifying an AM facility to a globally recognized DNV’s AM ‘Facility Certification’ standard such as DNVGL-ST-B203 for the Energy and Maritime industries, provides assurance that the qualified facility meets the rigorous criteria, confirmed by qualified AM experts. AM process qualification provides peace of mind to end-user customers with a strong emphasis on the reliability and capability verification of AM manufacturers. That way, certification holds more value to customers, regulators, or others who are in need of certified AM parts.

“DNV facility certification and part family qualification is very important for BMT aerospace to support our growth target in Energy and Oil & Gas application area. We see the great potential of AM in these industries, and clearly, these certifications will provide us to create trust with our end-user customers with the right level of assurance and help them to integrate our services in their just-in-time manufacturing supply chain. With this certification we are also looking forward to providing our customers’ necessary confidence in the quality and repeatability of our AM process.” said Ewald Goossens, Innovations & New Technologies Manager at BMT Aerospace.

Dr. Sastry Kandukuri, Global AM Practice Lead and Senior Principal Materials Specialist at DNV’s Energy Systems Business Unit in Norway, said the following on the use of the Additive Manufacturing standards DNVGL-ST-B203 for the Energy and Maritime industries for facility certification.

“DNV’s Facility Certification is based on our extensive experience and helps the manufacturers with necessary awareness about quality requirements of industry-recognized standards, identify and mitigate manufacturing risks, and serves as a basis for closing and managing the gaps. Our current customers and potential clients are increasingly interested in benchmarking of the AM facilities they wanted to use in future projects. We are very happy to see that BMT Aerospace has chosen to work with us and we are looking forward to add value through our competence, integrity and independence”

The certification project is aimed to be completed by the end of this year.