Precision Enhancement of 3D Printing via In Situ Metrology

The field of additive manufacturing, especially 3D printing, has gained growing attention in the research and commercial sectors in recent years. Notwithstanding that the capabilities of 3D printing have moved on to enhanced resolution, higher deposition rate, and a wide variety of materials, the crucial challenge of verifying that the component manufactured is within the dimensional tolerance as designed continues to exist. This work developed and demonstrated an approach for layer-by-layer mapping of 3D printed parts, which can be used for validation of printed models and in situ adjustment of print parameters. A high-speed optical scanning system was integrated with a Fused Deposition Modeling type 3D printer to scan during the print process on demands.