Analysis of variability in additive manufactured open cell porous structures

Evans, Sam ORCID: 0000-0003-3253-5002, Jones, Eric, Fox, Pete ORCID: 0000-0003-3442-8630 and Sutcliffe, Chris (2017) Analysis of variability in additive manufactured open cell porous structures. PROCEEDINGS OF THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS PART H-JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE, 231 (6). pp. 534-546.

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Abstract

In this article, a novel method of analysing build consistency of additively manufactured open cell porous structures is presented. Conventionally, methods such as micro computed tomography or scanning electron microscopy imaging have been applied to the measurement of geometric properties of porous material; however, high costs and low speeds make them unsuitable for analysing high volumes of components. Recent advances in the image-based analysis of open cell structures have opened up the possibility of qualifying variation in manufacturing of porous material. Here, a photogrammetric method of measurement, employing image analysis to extract values for geometric properties, is used to investigate the variation between identically designed porous samples measuring changes in material thickness and pore size, both intra- and inter-build. Following the measurement of 125 samples, intra-build material thickness showed variation of ±12%, and pore size ±4% of the mean measured values across five builds. Inter-build material thickness and pore size showed mean ranges higher than those of intra-build, ±16% and ±6% of the mean material thickness and pore size, respectively. Acquired measurements created baseline variation values and demonstrated techniques suitable for tracking build deviation and inspecting additively manufactured porous structures to indicate unwanted process fluctuations.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Additive manufacturing, porous material, orthopaedic materials, metallic materials, photogrammetric analysis, porous inspection, quality control
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	27 Jun 2017 06:21
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2023 07:02
DOI:	10.1177/0954411917703675
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3008158