Additive manufacturing technologies have taken on an important role in serial production, manufacturing light-weight but complex mechanical parts quickly and efficiently.

Serial production – what we also know as mass production assembly lines – relies on a consistently high level of quality. And consistency in manufactured components means that machines using additive technologies must always deliver the same repeatable and reliable results.

Today, we will discover how one of our customers uses Ophir’s BeamWatch AM to make sure that additive technologies deliver the highest quality.

The Fraunhofer Research Institute based in Germany helps companies produce additive-manufactured components which are frequently subjected to heavy loads – for instance, elements that are used in airplanes, cars, trains, and ships.

Component failure in these industries can bring catastrophic results. And for this reason, Fraunhofer created a quality assurance and certification working group that focuses on just one goal: Delivering. Repeatable. Results.

They want to be absolutely sure that additive manufacturing produces a high-quality product over and over and over again.

The key to meeting this goal?
Making sure that the laser parameters are checked regularly. Fraunhofer found that beam sources age over time, and that output power and beam quality suffer from focus shifts or power losses.

To circumvent this kind of wear and tear, Fraunhofer relies on BeamWatch AM for comprehensive measurements - regular beam measurements performed at short intervals which guarantees meticulous quality assurance.

BeamWatch AM is “contact-less” –it images the beam without contact, measuring critical beam parameters in real time as the beam passes through.

Quick. Compact. With no contact.
Experts at Fraunhofer trust BeamWatch AM to make sure that the quality of the laser beam safeguards reproducibility of manufactured parts using additive technologies.

Read more about Fraunhofer’s use of BeamWatch AM on our blog.