Quality management

Quality monitoring and assurance in additive manufacturing

© Fraunhofer IPK
CT scan of defects in an additively manufactured component

Stable processes and optimized quality management are prerequisites for the integration and use of additive technologies in industrial production. Reliable statements about the mechanical properties of the manufactured components are just as much a part of this as intelligent monitoring and documentation strategies for processes and machines in powder bed and deposition welding processes.

In practice, quality control of manufactured components often takes place after the build-up process. This is complex and expensive. We develop solutions to monitor relevant influencing factors already during the additive process and use state-of-the-art testing methods and sensor technology for this purpose. All in all, we work with you to establish a comprehensive quality management strategy along the entire process chain, thus enabling you to achieve robust additive series production.  

Our services

  • Feasibility and parameter studies for quality optimization
  • Multi-laser strategies for processing difficult to weld materials
  • Powder qualification (shape, particle size, chemical composition, etc.)
  • Testing of additively manufactured components
  • Process monitoring, data management and analysis
  • Use of artificial intelligence for quality assurance

Industrial applications

  • Qualification of metal powders for high requirements
  • Setup and evaluation of inline process monitoring (e.g. temperature, spectrometry)
  • Damage analysis and cause identification
  • Analysis of microstructures and mechanical / technological properties
  • High-temperature testing for thermal mechanical engineering

Technical equipment

  • Camsizer X2
  • Pyrometer Sensortherm M322
  • Micro Epsilon laser distance sensor
  • Metallography
  • Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
  • 3D motion and deformation sensor ARAMIS
  • Optical surface measuring device Alicona InfiniteFocus
  • 3D scanner GOM ATOS
  • ZWICK/Roell tensile testing facility

Selected references

Quality management for reliable and robust additive manufacturing

Together with partners from industry and science we develop quality routines along the additive process chain.

Sensor technology in additive components

We develop solutions for embedding sensor technology in safety-critical aerospace structural components and highly stressed functional elements in power engineering.

 

Certify as you build

With the aid of artificial neural networks, we detect important process parameters during additive manufacturing and can make predictions about component quality on this basis.