Design for metrology in additive manufacturing
Start: September 2016
Additive manufacturing (AM) allows for significant design freedom compared to conventional manufacturing. Highly elaborate structures can be produced with freeform geometry, complex surface texture and internal features. This level of design freedom has let to problems when such complex objects need to be measured, e.g. for quality control or process monitoring. This project will investigate how the design freedom proffered by AM can be used to the advantage of the measurement process. For example, datum features could be designed into the structures or extra geometry could be added to the design to allow measurement with a specific sensing technology. The project will investigate the “design for metrology” concept for AM, produce a number of parts using different AM processes and measure the parts with different measurement technologies (contact, optical and x-ray computed tomography). Rigorous uncertainty analyses will be developed for the various measurement scenarios and tolerance rules will be established.
Test part manufactured with Selective Laser Sintering