AM QTOOLS: Additive Manufacturing Quality and Monitoring Control System
AM QTOOLS aims to implement a predictive online quality control for metal Additive Manufacturing processes able to ensure reproducibility, and lead time reduction.
AM QTOOLS aims to implement a predictive online quality control for metal Additive Manufacturing processes able to ensure reproducibility, and lead time reduction.
Additive Manufacturing Quality and Monitoring Control System – AM QTOOLS – is a project funded by the European project HUBCAP which aims to implement an Additive Manufacturing (AM) online quality control system. Quality control is one of the key elements of the AM process. It requires the use of different machines (e.g. CTscan, optical tomography) with large capital investments and large time for execution – up to 4 or 12 days, if the product is sent to testing laboratories.
AM QTOOLS addresses the quality control through a framework which integrates: model-based design (MBD), cyber-physical system made of an AM machine and a data analysis framework and metallurgical testing. This framework will pave the way for the development of real-time predictive models able to foresee defects by category, area, and grade.
Quality improvement: quality of the density material (DMQ) will be monitored and measured during the printing phase to reach the designed target density.
Lead time reduction: the online quality process monitoring will reduce the number of quality control steps on parts once printed.
Reduce the complexity of design by abstraction: the number of design iterations will be reduced thanks to the application of the features’ catalogue throughout the MBD approach to virtually represent and analyze parts and components before printing them in AM.
Duration 12 months
Kick-off meeting: 03/11/2021
Cyber-Physical System Creation
02/2022
Testing
03/2022
Final Event
19/10/2022
Relying on the strong expertise developed with Lisa Tech – Living Space for Additive Technologies laboratory – Kilometro Rosso will provide AM QTOOLS with knowledge on the Metal Additive Manufacturing design and process. The Laboratory is, in fact, equipped with an EOS M290 – Direct Metal Laser Sintering printer – with an optical tomography IR system that allows real-time control of process and components quality.
Kilometro Rosso provides the Cyber-Physical System used to realise the test parts to give quality data and printing process information. Moreover, it is in charge of the Communication and Dissemination activities.
These MBD CPS technologies have indirectly received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation action programme, via an Open Call #3 INNOVATE issued and executed under project HUBCAP (grant agreement No 872698)
