Chapter 18 - Nondestructive evaluation of additively manufactured parts

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) is the process of joining materials to make parts from 3D CAD model data, usually layer upon layer, unlike the subtractive manufacturing and formative manufacturing methodologies. AM, widely known as 3D printing, is the current emerging technology in manufacturing due to its ability to produce complex geometries with customizable materials. The main drawbacks associated with AM parts include the lack of surface quality required for functional operations. Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of the AM components plays a vital role in not compromising their quality and in anticipating safety requirements during their service life. This chapter summarizes the relevant NDE techniques to identify manufacturing abnormalities and service-induced flaws of AM components. This area is relatively innovative and drawing considerable attention as a variety of AM processes are constantly developing. The optimization of every AM process necessitates a response from the NDE of AM components. The existence of complex interior molecular structures, geometries, and shapes are the limiting aspects for the use of regular NDE techniques for analyzing surface quality defects like porosity formation, irregular internal structure, stresses, etc. with both AM processes and AM parts.