EOS, MTU Partner on Quality Control for Laser Additive Manufacturing

EOS has partnered with MTU Aero Engines to develop quality assurance technology for metal engine components created using laser-based additive manufacturing.

A manufacturer of aircraft engines and industrial gas turbines, MTU has already developed a camera-based optical tomography (OT) system that controls the exposure process and melting characteristics during direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) to ensure the optimum coating and exposure quality.

“The OT solution enables us to perform an even more holistic quality control of the metal additive manufacturing process — layer by layer and part by part,” said Dr. Adrian Keppler, head of sales and marketing at EOS. “A very large proportion of the quality control process that previously took place downstream can now be performed during the manufacturing process, with a considerable saving in quality assurance costs.”

The system has been tested on EOS additive manufacturing machines and will now be made available to customers, said MTU’s head of production technologies, Thomas Dautl.

Quality assurance is especially important in the field of serial production, the companies said, because it is vital for ensuring repeatable component quality and for continually reducing quality control costs.

For more information, visit www.eos.info.