Additive manufacturing has increased in popularity due to advances in 3D printing technology. A 3D printer is a device that fabricates a physical object from a three-dimensional digital model by laying down successive layers of a heated plastic. Companies that utilize 3D printing and additive manufacturing can benefit from a quicker time-to-market for a product, a decrease in engineering time due to rapid prototyping capabilities, and a decrease in the physical design constraints realized in traditional manufacturing. However, quality control of a 3D printed part is a major drawback that restricts these parts from use in high consequence applications.

The Sandia Instrumented 3D Printer project aims to eliminate quality concerns with the implementation of various sensors to monitor and control the 3D print process, resulting in a history of sensor data that will allow the part to be classified. This "part history" will be associated with various mechanical tests that verify the part's structural integrity. When this process is verified, feedback into the 3D print process will be introduced to control the quality of a part while it is being printed, resulting in less material waste and more reliable parts.

For more detailed information, please see the Project Readiness Package.

Project Name

Sandia Instrumented 3D Printer

Project Number

P17551

Start Term

2161

End Term

2165

Faculty Guide

Mr. Edward Hanzlik

Primary Customer

Mr. Nicholas Leathe

Sponsor

Sandia National Laboratories

Planning & Execution

Project Photos and Videos

Imagine RIT

Project Directory

Problem Definition

Systems Design

Preliminary Detailed Design

Detailed Design

Build & Test Prep

Subsystem Build & Test

Integrated System Build & Test

Integrated System Build & Test with Customer Demo

Customer Handoff & Final Project Documentation