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2014
Conference Paper
Titel
Quality assurance for the complete process chain of Additive Manufacturing with modern metrology techniques
Abstract
In this paper, different approaches for the quality assurance of parts produced with Additive Manufacturing (AM) will be presented. AM is a new way to produce parts in small Iot sizes up to a Iot size of one. Furthermore these products can easily be constructed with high complexity in a 3D-CAD software system and stored accordingly. Another significant advantage is the low weight of the entire component and its robustness in industrial use. However, the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) process used for AM does have some associated problems. The most serious one is the inability to secure an accurate prediction in the quality of results, which is ultimately the quality of the components. This is essential for industrial deployment and enforcement in the market. The possibilities of modern 3D data evaluation for metrology and quality assurance will be presented in this paper for the special application of the plastic SLS process. We use the advantages of different measurement techniques at all stages of a production process for an increased quality of the resulting products. The content of the presented work is the optimization of plastic Iaser sintering components with regards to their quality requirements to ensure the functionality of their practical use in production, which can be guaranteed and quantified. To ensure a high quality production different measurement techniques can be used along the process chain. During the production different sensors can be used, such as 2D and 3D imaging sensors. Using these, errors in the production can be detected and classified. lf the sensors are used in addition to one another, the likelihood to detect errors increases. Moreover these sensors can be used to speed up the ramp up when different raw materials are used. The industrial Computer Tomography (CT) can be used to study and capture the necessary quality criteria or aspects in the complete product development process. Then the acquired 3D data is evaluated and adequate 3D solutions are identified to guarantee optimal quality evaluation as well as conclusions for future SLS development and production. Our presentation focuses on the study and evaluation of 3D data and the conclusions for relevant quality criteria. Additionally, the evaluation results for quality prediction, comparison and for correction are described in order to show how an adequate process control can be achieved with the help of modern 3D metrology techniques.