VELO3D
Velo 3D Assure
Assure predicts defectivity as a function of layer number. An increase in the defectivity metric is correlated with increasing defectivity in the bulk core of the part.
VELO3D has announced the launch and availability of its Assure quality assurance and control software for the Sapphire metal 3D printing system.
Stratasys Direct Manufacturing has become the first user of VELO3D’s additive manufacturing technology to implement the software.
The Assure system has been designed to validate the quality of parts needed for volume production by highlighting anomalies and issues within the process immediately before informing the operator on how to go about correcting them. It uses real-time, multi-sensor, physics-based detection algorithms to do this, promising ‘unprecedented traceability’ of part quality and providing documentation to accelerate part validation and ultimately reduce variation in the print process.
Stratasys Direct Manufacturing has been working with VELO3D to test the Assure product since it brought a Sapphire system in-house earlier this year. During a twelve-week study, Stratasys Direct accessed Assure’s dashboard to monitor the integrity of builds, validate the bulk material density, observe ongoing process metrics and verify system calibration throughout ongoing production. For context, the printing of each part generates billions of data parts for Assure to measure. During a build, the Assure system will validate the powder be health, consumables, chamber atmosphere and optics to ensure they stay in spec, and do the same for each layer while tracking the melt pool data to ensure each layer is within the right tolerances. Stratasys Direct would have access to this data in real-time and summary reports were available post-build too.
VELO3D
VELO3D Assure
VELO3D’s Assure quality control dashboard enables engineers to track the quality and progress of Sapphire machines in real-time.
Though VELO3D today makes the Assure system available to users, work with Stratasys Direct will continue through the next few quarters to refine the software’s algorithms. The partners are confident the software will go some way to ensuring users of VELO3D’s Sapphire system will be able to achieve repeatable production runs at significant volumes.
“Assure is a revolutionary quality control system [and] an inherent part of the VELO3D end-to-end manufacturing solution for serial production,” commented Benny Buller, founder and CEO of VELO3D. “Assure is part of our vision to provide an integrated solution to produce parts by additive manufacturing with successful outcomes.”
“Stratasys Direct has built a culture of continuous improvement that means we are continually setting new standards for our industry on quality,” added Kent Firestone, CEO of Stratasys Direct Manufacturing. “We integrated Assure into our quality control workflow because it produces highly actionable insights. The user interface features intuitive graphs and charts that enable us to see and interpret the vast amount of data collected during builds. This information helps our engineers verify the quality of the build each step of the way and enables them to make quick decisions in the event of an issue. Assure helps us reduce production variation, improve yields and circumvent anomalies to ensure consistent additive manufacturing.”
