In the future, irregularities in additive manufacturing processes will be detected during the printing process so that component assembly will be stopped promptly. An integrated test system is to be developed within the scope of the "AddiLine" project.
As a part of the AddiLine project, a process-integrated inspection system is being developed to monitor the quality of 3D-printed components in real time.
Fraunhofer IKTS
With the thermoplastic 3D printing process (T3DP), which was developed at Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS), ceramics and hard metals can now also be printed. For high process stability and component quality, however, inline process control is required. Previous solutions produce excessive amounts of data that take a long time to evaluate, or they are too large for the limited space available in the printer. In addition, they are incapable of checking any defined material parameters (porosity or defects) to which the manufacturing process must be adapted.
The IKTS researchers want to develop an integrated inspection system for high-quality 3D-printed components. In the recently launched "AddiLine" project, five project partners are qualifying laser speckle photometry, in addition to material supply monitoring during printing, to monitor thermoplastic 3D printing. The aim of the project is the development of a measuring system with two components. The first component uses a light barrier to monitor whether the material to be printed is actually leaving the printer or not. This is a prerequisite for correctly bonding the material drops so that no air inclusions occur. The second component, integrated laser speckle photometry (LSP), checks the previously defined parameters of the resulting structure in real-time without touching the object.
Cost-effective non-contact testing technology
The non-contact testing technology to be developed will be implemented as a cost-effective system with a flexible and robust optical design. In order to test its use under production conditions, the modular system will be integrated into a T3DP system with both of its components. "The plant demonstrator forms the basis for a completely new additive manufacturing technology that allows the manufacturing of a wide range of high-quality single- and multi-material components," summarises Dr. Beatrice Bendjus, research associate at Fraunhofer IKTS.
Further project partners are Hoyer Montagetechnik, Vermes Microdispensing, Thomas Werner Industrielle Elektronik and Viimagic GmbH. The "Laser-supported inline monitoring of the additive production of ceramics and hard metals" project will run until spring 2021 and is funded as a part of the "Photonics for flexible, networked production – optical sensor technology" funding measure within the framework of the "Photonics Research Germany" programme of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).