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Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing

Instruments by Category

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National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Additive Manufacturing (AM) has a variety of tools for AM. If you are interested in measuring mechanical, structural, chemical, or thermal properties, NIST has a variety of tools to do so. 

Feel free to contact us with questions or opportunities to collaborate.

Electron backscatter diffraction for additive manufacturing. Colorized micrograph shows vertical bands in red, pink, and orange.
Colorized micrograph shows electron backscatter diffraction for additive manufacturing.
Credit: J. Benzing/NIST

Click on the plus (+) icons below to explore instrumentation and the material properties we measure. 

  • Advion ExpressION Single Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer
  • Computer Controlled Potentiostat/Galvanostat   
  • DART Mass Spectrometer
  • Decay Energy Spectrometer
  • DXR Raman spectrometer
  • Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy
  • Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer
  • IonTOF TOF-SIMS
  • Multiple Commercial Trace Detectors
  • NIST-Built Rheo-Raman Microscope
  • Ocean Insights Jaz UV-Vis
  • Ondax/Kaiser THz Raman Spectrometer
  • Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer
  • Shimadzu UV-Vis
  • Time-Gated Raman Spectrometer 
  • UV-Vis Spectroscopy
  • Various LC-MS, GC-MS, and Microscopy Characterization Tools

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  • Anton Parr Shear Controlled Rheometer
  • ARES G2 Rheometer
  • ARES G2 Strain Controlled Rheometer
  • Atomic Force Microscope 
  • Atomic Force Microscopy
  • Capillary Rheometer
  • Compression and Tension Kolsky Bars (Often Referred to as Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar) (Strain Rates up to 5000 1/s, Temperatures to 1000°C)
  • Customized Electromechanical Tensile Frame
  • DACA Microcompounder
  • Du Nuoy Ring Tensiometer 
  • Dynamic Mechanical Analysis
  • High-Speed Servohydraulic Material Testing System (Velocities up to 12 m/s)
  • Instrumented Hardness Indenter
  • Instrumented Hardness System
  • Instrumented Indentation Tester
  • Instrumented Microhardness Indenter (Vickers, Berkovich, Knoop, and Flat Punch Tips)
  • Knoop, Vickers, Brinell, and Rockwell Hardness Testers
  • Link AM CSS450 Optical Shear Cell
  • Mechanical Testing (Including Small-Scale, High/Low Temperature, Extreme Environments, Static And Dynamic, etc.)
  • Micro and Macro Mechanical Testing Systems
  • Microhardness Mapping
  • Nanoindentation
  • Nanoindentation Mapping
  • Photon High Speed Birefringence Camera
  • Planetary Mixer
  • "Quasi-Static Screw Driven Material Testing System (5 kN Capacity)"
  • Quasi-Static Servohydraulic Material Testing System (Velocities Up To 50 mm/s and 50 kN Capacity)
  • Rheometer
  • Rheometry
  • Ring Tensiometer
  • Rotational Rheometer
  • Shear Cell
  • ThermoFisher Minijet Pro
  • ThermoFisher Process 11

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  • Atomic Force Microscope 
  • Atomic Force Microscopy
  • Acoustic Non-Destructive Evaluation
  • Atom Probe Tomography
  • CCD Cameras/Custom Print Heads, Conveyor Belts
  • Confocal Microscopes
  • Center for Theoretical and Computational Materials Science (CTCMS)
  • Digital Holographic Microscopy 
  • Electron Backscatter Diffraction
  • Focused Ion Beam (FIB)
  • High Resolution Digital Image Correlation (DIC) Systems
  • High Speed Digital Image Correlation (DIC) Systems
  • Laboratory X-Ray Diffraction
  • Laser Confocal
  • Laser Confocal Microscope
  • Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy
  • Materials Deposition Printer
  • Metallographic Equipment (Cutting, Grinding, Polishing, Mounting, Examining)
  • Metallographic Preparation Systems
  • Microfab Facility
  • NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR)
  • Olympus Bx-51 Optical Microscope
  • Optical Camera
  • Optical Coherence Tomography 
  • Optical Microscopes
  • Optical Microscopy
  • Sample Prep (Grinding, Cutting, Polishing)
  • Scanning Electron Microscope
  • Scanning Electron Microscopy
  • Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM)
  • Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)
  • X-Ray Computed Tomography (XRCT)
  • X-Ray Diffraction
  • X-Ray Micro Computed Tomography

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  • Arc Melter With Suction Casting
  • Ceramic Synthesis (High Energy Planetary Milling, High Speed Mixing, High Temperature Furnaces)
  • Cold Sintering Stage
  • Differential Scanning Calorimeter
  • FLIR IR Camera
  • High Speed Thermography System
  • High Temperature Furnaces
  • Quenching Pushrod Dilatometer
  • Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS)
  • Thermogravimetric Analyzer

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Use the cards below to return to our Instruments Overview page, explore our Instruments by Location, or Instruments by Project. 

a researcher uses a capillary rheometer to study polymer properties

Additive Manufacturing Instruments Overview

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Early morning aerial view of NIST's Boulder, Colorado, campus, the Flatiron Mountains are in the background

Instruments by Location

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Researcher uses optical coherence tomography (OCT). A hand in a purple glove turns a metal dial on a plate holding tiny vials of purple liquid.

Instruments by Project

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Manufacturing, Additive manufacturing, Materials, Metrology and Standards

Contacts

Additive Manufacturing Program Coordinators

Created December 9, 2024, Updated April 15, 2025
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