Adaptive quality assurance of the product development process of additive manufacturing with modern 3D data evaluation methods

In this paper, the possibilities of modern 3D data evaluation for metrology and quality assurance are presented for the special application of the plastic laser sinter process, especially the Additive Manufacturing process. We use the advantages of computer tomography and of the 3D focus variation at all stages of a production process for an increased quality of the resulting products. With the CT and the 3D focus variation the modern quality assurance and metrology have state of the art instruments that allow non-destructive, complete and accurate measuring of parts. Therefore, these metrological methods can be used in many stages of the product development process for non-destructive quality control. In this work, studies and evaluation of 3D data and the conclusions for relevant quality criteria are presented. Additionally, new developments and implementations for adapting the evaluation results for quality prediction, comparison and for correction are described to show how an adequate process control can be achieved with the help of modern 3D metrology techniques. The focus is on the optimization of laser sintering components with regard to their quality requirements so that the functionality during production can be guaranteed and quantified.