Non-destructive evaluation of melt-extruded part quality using in situ data
ISSN: 1355-2546
Article publication date: 27 September 2023
Issue publication date: 2 January 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to collect real-time, in situ data from polymer melt extrusion (ME) 3D printing and use only the collected data to non-destructively identify printed parts that contain defects.
Design/methodology/approach
A set of sensors was created to collect real-time, in situ data from polymer ME 3D printing. A variance analysis was completed to identify an “acceptable” range for filament diameter on a popular desktop 3D printer. These data were used as the basis of a quality evaluation process to non-destructively identify spatial regions of printed parts in multi-part builds that contain defects.
Findings
Anomalous parts were correctly identified non-destructively using only in situ collected data.
Research limitations/implications
This methodology was developed by varying the filament diameter, one of the most common reasons for print failure in ME. Numerous other printing parameters are known to create faults in melt extruded parts, and this methodology can be extended to analyze other parameters.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of a non-destructive evaluation of 3D-printed part quality using only in situ data in ME. The value is in improving part quality and reliability in ME, thereby reducing 3D printing part errors, plastic waste and the associated cost of time and material.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge and thank James Tillotson at CSU’s Idea-2-Product Lab, Dr Kevin Slattery, Jennifer Coyne, Mike Hayes and Kirk Rogers at The Barnes Global Advisors, George Barnych at the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), Ashley Totin at America Makes, Nat Frampton at LECS Energy and Dr Andreas Vlahinos at Advanced Engineering Solutions. The authors would also like to thank Mr Kerem Gurkan for his valued contribution to user interface software development. Finally, we would like to thank our partners, family and friends who support us through our life’s path, enabling us to do this work.
Funding: The financial support was provided by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM).
Conflict of interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest in this work.
Credit authorship contribution statement: V.J., D.Z., E.R., A.G., W.D., E.G. and D.P. designed the project and drafted the manuscript. E.G. and A.G. wrote the analytics software. D.Z. did all the design and 3D printing. V.J., E.R. and W.D designed and implemented all circuitry. V.J., E.R. and D.Z. performed all experiments. D.P. led the experiments and supervised the project. All authors reviewed, critiqued and edited the manuscript extensively and agreed on the final version submitted for consideration.
Citation
Jilludimudi, V.H.V., Zhou, D., Rubstov, E., Gonzalez, A., Daknis, W., Gunn, E. and Prawel, D. (2024), "Non-destructive evaluation of melt-extruded part quality using
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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