Investigation of ultrasonic and other non-destructive testing methods on metallic 3D printed specimen

• Main Author: Zhang, Zhixian
• Other Authors: Brian Stephen Wong
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/67665
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In recent years, there has been a growing trend in the development and use of Additive Manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing. The Economist predicts that AM could be the third industrial revolution due to its potential of becoming a new type of manufacturing industry. Aerospace companies such as GE aviation are beginning to adopt the AM method to produce aircraft components. Due to the rising of AM and 3D printing development, it is crucial to be able to effectively use Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) method to detect discontinuities such as cracks and porosities. This is necessary so as to ensure that the 3D printed materials are able to perform their main functions during their lifetimes and to prevent any material failures which could lead to loss of life. This report aims to compare ultrasonic with other NDT methods like eddy current, stereomicroscope, relative density and computer tomography scan to find out which is the best technique to detect flaws and to quantify porosity content in the metallic 3D printed specimens. With their pros and cons of each method, ultrasound is found out to be the best method since it is fast and accurate as compare to the other four methods.