Metrology for additive manufacturing
INTIMetal additive manufacturing promises a great impact on the industrial development in the next few years. This implies several challenges for the Metrology community. We will have not only to assure the material, dimensions and geometry of passive parts but also to understand, communicate with and spread traceability to smart parts with infinite characteristics, purposes and behaviors. This presentation shows the capabilities and limitations at INTI and proposes some subjects of research and development to deal with those challenges, some of them are included within the frame of a doctoral thesis.
- 9 Comments -
Congratulations Leandro!! Very clear and interesting work you have been doing around 3D manufacturing. What about your customers right now and future? Is it necessary to certificate the raw materials and sensors, previous to manufacturing? The 3D machine is INM property? How did you get it? How much is your annual budget for this type of activities and research? It would be interesting if you share to us how you (INTI-INM) made the link with the industry and technology suppliers. Thanks.
Interesting presentation Leandro. I'm not an expert, therefore I don't know if my questions are relevant and if I'm using the right terms. Is there a need to "calibrate" some parameters of the 3D Printers? E.g. the temperature of the laser at the melting spot, the geometrical positioning of the melting spot (I assume that this will have an impact on the quality of the printed item). Do you use Reference Materials to assure the quality of the dust material? Which are the most common quality issues of the printed items?
Juan Gabriel. Thanks a lot for your comments. The printer was bought through a national government funding. INTI is not actually the owner, but part of a consortium in which INTI participates. However, INTI has formulated the project, made the technical specification and is operating the printer. Even, the printer is installed at INTI laboratories.
Thank you Alexis. The calibration of metal printers is quite complicated because of the principle of operation. There are some test specimens developed but the number of printing parameters is so much that the combination of all of them is almost infinite. The quality of dust is important too. By now we trust in the manufacturer's controls, but in the future, maybe we will havo to control that too. Some issues are the distortion and even destruction of the part during the process. On the finished part it's necessary to control GD&T, roughness, pores, craks and unmelted dust among other things.
Thank you for sharing your presentation, very interesting. Currently the use of 3D printers is very common, for different materials and of different qualities, are there technical standards to classify the accuracy and other parameters of a 3D printer? Do you know if you are already working on it? Having a technical standard would go a long way in research. Thank you very much for the information.
The expected performance of the "final product" may give direct or indirect performance requirements (and hence specifications) for the component parts generated by 3D-printing, relative to the necessary metrological properties.
Congratulations Leandro, Interesting presentation, I have a question: What calibration periods could have a metal printer?
Felicitarlos por el trabajo, y el excelente video realizado. Para quienes no somos profesionales en el tema, han realizado un video muy claro y super didáctico, haciéndolo muy interesante!.
Are you covering not only metrology aspects of the printed device, but metrology aspects of the printer and the printing process?