A Novel Method for Benchmarking Surface Quality in Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

The utilization of additive manufacturing (AM) in series applications demonstrates that it has moved beyond the
prototyping stage and has reached a higher level of maturity. This means that the decision to use AM is often based on a
cost-oriented decision-making process compared to conventional manufacturing technologies. In addition to cost, quality
is also a crucial factor that is closely related to the choice of technology. In order to meet the requirements, detailed
information on quality aspects and the methods used to derive them is required. Especially in the field of surface
characterization, more advanced measurement devices have found their way into international standards. However, due
to the inherent complexity of AM, the currently available approaches are not suitable for an industrial implementation.
The paper aims to investigate the state of the art in methods and test specimens for determining the surface quality and
roughness of additively manufactured parts and to accompany all steps of the process chain. A new test geometry in
combination with a proposed methodology will be presented to enable digital surface roughness measurements on an
industrial scale. This approach will be validated in a case study investigating the chemical smoothing process of PBF
LB/P components.