A video discussing some of the most important considerations for testing additively manufactured, aka 3D printed, components.

As the technology and application capabilities continue to grow, additive manufacturing or 3D printing is becoming an increasingly popular way for a wide range of manufacturers to create products or components with highly complex shapes and unusual geometries. In this video we compare the mechanical properties of an additively manufactured component that has been printed in two different orientations. We also discuss how testing 3D printed materials differs from more traditional manufacturing methods such as injection molding or subtractive manufacturing methods. We perform a tensile test using a 6800 Series universal testing system, AVE 2 video extensometer with Digital Image Correlation (DIC) software to show the strain map and identify areas of stress concentration while the force is being applied.