Thanks Dio. I like this part.... "However,(mo fos) until companies that utilize 3D production facilities like GE Aviation are able to effectively verify that each part conforms to design specifications of attributes of shape, density, strength and consistency in real-time during the manufacturing process, we believe that such companies will be at risk of letting some substandard parts through and, also, be unable to improve the workflow to high quality cost-optimum yields of 3D printed metal parts. No matter how much acuity and at what cost a suite of post process inspection tools might provide 3D manufactured metal parts, it currently can only assure quality yield by rejecting fully formed parts, and, over time, applying comprehensive ‘reverse engineering’ forensic analyses of each rejected part to identify repeating quality flaws attributable to constants such as location, design, or scan strategy. Once the locations of these repeating flaws are identified, process engineers can act to make the AM equipment deliver better quality by adjusting the computer-based manufacturing instructions of AM equipment to offset the repeating flaws discovered by that deep analyses of individual rejected parts in many manufacturing runs. This prolonged post-process methodology is very costly due to the loss of material and rejected parts as well as post-process analysis labor cost and inspection cost such as CT scanning. Additionally, there still lingers the question of whether or not the post-process inspections were sufficiently granular to assure that flawed parts were not accepted and shipped.
We believe that our product, PrintRite3D® version 5.2, which is ‘agnostic’ and can be installed on all major brands of 3D metal laser powderbed printers, solves these problems by determining if each part is being made to the metallurgical quality specifications of the product design as each part is being made. Our software enables 3D prototyping to evolve forward into serial or production 3D manufacturing by providing a software suite with algorithm-based tools that address and overcome quality issues that are specific to 3D Metal Additive Manufacturing and that are not solved using the post-production quality methods developed for subtractive manufacturing along with and newly dependent upon CT scanning. The PrintRite3D® suite has the potential to substantially lower operating costs and can attain higher yields by inspecting parts as they are made and providing machines and their operators actionable information that includes the options of stopping manufacture of given part(s) while operations continue to complete parts that are in specification, thus saving time and money while raising yields.
glta
PrintRite3D® also gives operators information from run-to-run that enables them to ‘learn up’ quality for a given machine by using PrintRite3D® data about machine behaviors that can then be offset by making adjustments to power settings directed at a given sector. PrintRite3D®’s (“TED”) feature supersedes and truncates the “reverse engineering” process of post process inspection described above by providing process engineers the data required to optimize individual machines as well as machines in series in days or weeks and before serial production is launched rather than months after production and rejection rates have accrued in costly quantities." glta
