Rapid 3D

Components produced for the aerospace industry must satisfy strict quality assurance criteria. Especially in series production environments, there are high standards for component quality and hence process stability and reproducibility.

End-to-end quality assurance is therefore crucial throughout the entire production chain.

Just a few years ago, there were no well-established testing procedures for additive manufacturing, which is why non-destructive and downstream processes such as dye penetrant testing, X-rays, and computer tomography (CT) were used for metal components. Although these conventional testing methods are an effective way to certify components in some cases, they are highly expensive and often insufficient.

Quality assurance can cost many times more than production, or is there a way to qualify parts cost effectively?

Optical Tomography Enables Considerable Savings in Quality Assurance of AM Parts MTU Aero Engines now aims to establish EOSTATE ExposureOT as a testing procedure for additively manufactured components and thereby significantly reduce the costs associated with quality assurance.Rapid 3D are the authorised partners for EOS Optical Systems in South Africa and sub-saharan Africa.

Here’s an all-too common scenario for manufacturers: A simple customer request for a design change escalates, resulting in hundreds of hours of labor and significant costs to change over a production line to meet the new demands.

That was the situation at a Saint-Gobain plant in North America when a client modified the shape of a weaving bobbin line, setting in motion the need for 400 new spindle adapters to hold the newly designed bobbins in place.

Instead of internally machining the replacement spindle adapters, Emmanuel Simadiris — a research engineer at Saint-Gobain Research North America, charged with coming up with technology solutions to support the various plants — sprung into action to see if 3D printing technology from Markforged was up to the task.

See how it played out ...

How Saint-Gobain Increased Productivity with Markforged Technology Here’s an all-too common scenario for manufacturers: A simple customer request for a design change escalates, resulting in hundreds of hours of labor and significant costs to change over a production…