2023 has seen Dimensionics Density — sister company to automation, quality assurance and manufacturing expert and innovator Dimensionics — commercially establish its automated AM density determination technology.

(Rostock, Germany, 13th September 2023) Dimensionics Density will be exhibiting at Formnext 2023, Frankfurt, Germany 7-10 November in Hall 11 booth C61, having spent the year since the last event establishing itself as a vital automated AM part validation technology focusing on the density determination of AM parts in production scenarios.

2023 has seen Dimensionics Density — sister company to automation, quality assurance and manufacturing expert and innovator Dimensionics — commercially establish its automated AM density determination technology. It is now independently recommended as the optimal solution in areas where a statement on the density has to be made quickly or frequently and for a large number of AM produced parts, i.e. in true production scenarios. This means that the company's solution allows machine approvals to be simplified, and thus the costs for quality assurance can be reduced.

Philipp Pruesse, Head of Sales at Dimensionics Density, says: "We are so excited to bring our technology to Formnext this year, and we will have a machine running on our booth to show exactly how it works. Density determination plays a crucial role in AM produced parts as it directly impacts their mechanical properties, structural integrity, and performance. As AM technology becomes increasingly integrated into production scenarios, the need for automated, non-destructive density determination methods becomes paramount. Automation ensures efficiency and scalability, enabling quick assessments of multiple AM parts within production cycles. Non-destructiveness is essential to avoid compromising the integrity of valuable components, and it allows for real-time quality control. Furthermore, AM often produces complex and intricate geometries, leading to multiple parts with varying shapes and sizes. Hence, a density determination method must be versatile enough to handle diverse AM parts rapidly, ensuring consistent quality and reliability across the entire production line."

Until the commercial launch of Dimensionics Density's automated density determination technology, manufacturers were forced to use alternative solutions such as micrographs, computed tomography (CT), or the Archimedes method which exhibit varying degrees of accuracy, resolution, repeatability, and successful defect detection.

Micrographs, although providing some insight into AM specimen porosity, suffer from the drawback of specimen destruction and significant manual labour, increasing both time and cost while relying heavily on expertise. CT, while capable of generating realistic 3D internal porosity images, demands costly expert operators, has limitations in detecting small pores, and requires prohibitively expensive equipment. On the other hand, the Archimedes method, while user-friendly, tends to be less accurate due to susceptibility to changing environmental conditions, balance precision, and experimental procedure accuracy. Reproducibility is challenging, as results are influenced by human factors, including variations in specimen placement on the balance and manual measurement operations that lead to deviations in measurements.

Dimensionics Density's solution effectively combines the Archimedes density determination method with modern automation technology. Automated part handling eliminates human influence on measurement, as parts are always placed identically onto scales. The scales are designed to be insulated from vibration. In addition, all ambient conditions such as temperature, air pressure, and water temperature, are recorded via climate sensors, and their influence on the measurement result is taken into account directly in the evaluation algorithm when determining the density. Crucially, for use in fast moving AM production settings, the technology is also non-destructive.

Pruesse continues, "We invite customer engagement at Formnext, and would be eager to fix up meetings with interested parties so we can discuss the specifics of customer applications, and discuss in detail how our density determination solution can help streamline the AM process chain. We live and breathe AM, and totally believe in its disruptive capabilities, and the way that it can democratise, streamline and add innovation and agility to modern day manufacturing. As such we are proud to be at the forefront of automated validation solutions for AM part production, and look forward to meeting our AM colleagues in Germany."

Anyone interested in fixing up a meeting with a Dimensionics Density representative at Formnext is invited to nominate a meeting time HERE, and on booth C61 you will be able to see the company's density determination technology, and see how it can help in your AM production objectives.

www.dimensionics-density.com/additive