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ASTM InternationalASTM International (ASTM), originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials, is an international standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services. ASTM predates other standards organizations such as BSI (1901), DIN (1917) and AFNOR (1926), but differs from these in that it is not a national standards body, that role being taken in the USA by ANSI. However, ASTM has a dominant role among standards developers in the USA, and claims to be the world's largest developer of standards. Using a consensus process, ASTM supports thousands of volunteer technical committees, which draw their members from around the world and collectively develop and maintain more than 12,000 standards. The Annual Book of ASTM Standards consists of 77 volumes. Additional recommended knowledge
HistoryA group of scientists and engineers, led by Charles Benjamin Dudley formed the American Society for Testing and Materials in 1898 to address the frequent rail breaks plaguing the fast-growing railroad industry. The group developed a standard for the steel used to fabricate rails. StandardsThe standards produced by ASTM International fall into six categories:
The quality of the standard test methods is such that they are frequently used world-wide, even in places where ASTM specifications are not used. Membership and organizationMembership in the organization is open to anyone with an interest in its activities[1]. Standards are developed within committees, and new committees are formed as needed, upon request of interested members. Membership in most committees is voluntary and is initiated by the member's own request, not by appointment nor by invitation. Members are classified as users, producers, consumers,and "general interest". The latter include academics and consultants. Users include industry users, who may be producers in the context of other technical committees, and end-users such as consumers. In order to meet the requirements of antitrust laws, producers must constitute less than 50% of every committee or subcommittee, and votes are limited to one per producer company. Because of these restrictions, there can be a substantial waiting-list of producers seeking organizational memberships on the more popular committees. Members can, however, participate without a formal vote and their input will be fully considered. As of 2007, more than 30,000 members, including over 1100 organizational members[2], from more than 120 countries.
ASTM International is recognized by the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Mandatory use of voluntary standardsASTM International has no role in requiring or enforcing compliance with its standards. The standards, however, may become mandatory when referenced by an external contract, corporation, or government.
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "ASTM_International". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia. |