Polymer powder bed fusion surface texture measurement

De Pastre, Marc Antoine ; Thompson, Adam ; Quinsat, Yann ; Albajez García, José A. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Senin, Nicola ; Leach, Richard

Resumen: Polymer laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) surfaces can be challenging to measure. These surfaces comprise complex features including undercuts, deep recesses, step-like transitions, a large range of measurement scales and unfavourable optically materials properties. While recent research has begun to examine the nature of these surfaces, there has not yet been significant effort in understanding how different measurement instruments interact with them. In this paper, we compare the results of LPBF surface topography measurements using a series of different instrument technologies, including contact stylus, focus variation microscopy, coherence scanning interferometry, laser scanning confocal microscopy and x-ray computed tomography. Measurements are made on both side and top surfaces of a cubic polyamide-12 LPBF sample. Different instrument behaviours are highlighted through qualitative visual inspection of surface reconstructions. Further comparisons are then performed through evaluation of profile and areal surface texture parameters and statistical modelling of surface topographies. These analyses allow for the identification both of discrepancies between texture parameters and discrepancies between local topographies reconstructed from measurements. Instrument repeatability metrics are also presented for each measurement of the test surfaces. Results show that discrepancies in measurements made on the acquired datasets are often similar in magnitude to the size of the features present on the surfaces. Conclusions are drawn regarding the suitability of various surface measurement instruments for polymer LPBF surfaces.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1088/1361-6501/ab63b1

Año: 2020

Publicado en: MEASUREMENT SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 31, 5 (2020), 055002 [14 pp.]
ISSN: 0957-0233

Factor impacto JCR: 2.046 (2020)

Categ. JCR: ENGINEERING, MULTIDISCIPLINARY rank: 49 / 91 = 0.538 (2020) - Q3 - T2
Categ. JCR: INSTRUMENTS & INSTRUMENTATION rank: 34 / 64 = 0.531 (2020) - Q3 - T2

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.48 - Applied Mathematics (Q2) - Instrumentation (Q2) - Engineering (miscellaneous) (Q2)

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MEC/CAS15-00389

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Área Ing. Procesos Fabricación (Dpto. Ingeniería Diseño Fabri.)