Automated AM Part Density Determination

Dimensionics Density has released a density determination technology for additive manufacturing (AM) that contributes to automation of the AM process chain. 

“Our technology plays straight into the need for automation in the area of validation and quality control of AM parts, and we have launched an array of tools focussed on the determination of AM part density,” Philipp Pruesse, head of Sales at Dimensionics Density, says. For AM to continue to disrupt the manufacturing paradigm, the entire AM process chain needs to move towards automation. Because of this, our density determination solutions are fully automated, and of vital importance, are designed to be used in production settings, not just in the laboratory.

“As we all know, AM stimulates design freedom as it is agnostic to part complexity,” Pruesse continues. “As geometric complexity increases, density determination of AM parts becomes more difficult using commonly used density determination technologies. Dimensionics Density’s solutions can easily determine the density of freeform parts and highly complex AM parts and can measure density repeatably to 0.001 g/cm3.”

The company’s density determination solution is a metrological system that has been developed for the accurate density determination of components, according to the company.

The accuracy of the Dimensionics Density system, according to the company, is achieved by combining the time-proven Archimedean principle with the latest automation technology and laboratory-standard precision scales.

The measuring process takes place fully automatically after the samples have been inserted into the universal component carriers. Numerous environmental factors that can affect the density measurement are monitored by the integrated measurement and control systems, and are taken into account when calculating the density from the measurement data.  This allows accuracies to be achieved in the determination of the density, the company notes.

The machine uses the Archimedes Principle. The density of the test object is determined by weighing it in two different media. The first measurement is usually made in air, the second measurement in a defined liquid medium with a known density. The factor for the accuracy of the result, however, is the positioning on the scale. Deviations from the center of mass and resulting off-center measurements of the component will lead to strong deviations, the company adds.

Dimensionics Density’s density determination technology is non-destructive and, therefore can be used to verify parts that conform to density requirements and those that don’t in a speedy, precise, and cost-effective manner.

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Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.