UK-based supplies testing firm Plastometrex has helped set up the brand new ASTM Normal E3499-25 for Profilometry-based Indentation Plastometry (PIP), offering a acknowledged framework for acquiring mechanical property knowledge extra rapidly and at decrease price than conventional testing strategies. The usual helps audit-ready datasets and constant outcomes throughout totally different labs and provide chains, making adoption simpler in regulated sectors reminiscent of aerospace and vitality.
The approval adopted multi-year validation work with NPL, Airbus, Nikon, and Renishaw, alongside ASTM committee overview. The standardization effort was led by Plastometrex CTO Dr. Jimmy Campbell, who launched the idea of Indentation Plastometry in 2019 and has guided its technical growth.
“From the outset, our objective with Indentation Plastometry was to create a technique that gave engineers the identical basic mechanical properties as standard tensile testing, however with far better effectivity and flexibility. Securing an ASTM customary is a serious step in that journey… now established as a world check methodology customary that may assist speed up innovation and lift the bar for mechanical testing worldwide,” mentioned Dr. Campbell.
Technique and Product Scope
PIP makes use of an inverse finite ingredient methodology to generate stress–pressure curves from indentation knowledge. This technique underpins Plastometrex’s PLX-Benchtop, PLX-HotStage, and PLX-Moveable techniques, all of which are actually aligned with the usual. The strategy requires minimal materials, reduces preparation, and helps testing in circumstances the place tensile testing is impractical, reminiscent of skinny samples or in-service elements.
With ASTM recognition, PIP is predicted to see wider deployment in supplies analysis, alloy growth, course of monitoring, and qualification workflows. The usual reduces inner approval boundaries, improves audit readiness, and ensures knowledge comparability throughout organizations. As a result of ASTM requirements maintain worldwide authority, the event helps international regulatory alignment.
Standardizing 3D Printing
In June 2025, a brand new worldwide customary named ISO/IEC 25422:2025 was revealed to enhance how 3D printing knowledge is structured and exchanged. It defines how digital information must be formatted to reinforce compatibility throughout design software program, platforms, and manufacturing tools. Developed by the 3MF Consortium, the usual relies on the 3D Manufacturing Format (3MF), created to beat the limitations of earlier file sorts that usually led to knowledge loss or manufacturing errors.
In Could, Singapore launched a nationwide customary designed to deliver additive manufacturing extra firmly into the nation’s aerospace sector. Named “Additive Manufacturing for Aerospace – Filament Layer Manufacturing Course of Specs,” SS 708 units out course of specs for filament layer manufacturing (FLM).
The usual was developed by the Singapore Manufacturing Federation’s Requirements Growth Organisation (SMF-SDO) and Enterprise Singapore, working via the Singapore Requirements Council. It additionally attracts on the experience of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, the Nationwide Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster (NAMIC), the Affiliation of Aerospace Industries Singapore (AAIS), and ST Engineering.
To remain updated with the newest 3D printing information, don’t neglect to subscribe to the 3D Printing Business publication or observe us on LinkedIn.
When you’re right here, why not subscribe to our Youtube channel? That includes dialogue, debriefs, video shorts, and webinar replays.
Featured picture reveals PLX-Benchtop In Use. Photograph by way of Plastometrex.
