NPS’ Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research and Education (CAMRE) is taking its ability to support defense-focused education and research to the next level. The recent installation of an industrial cabinet X-ray imaging system is providing NPS researchers and their partners with new capabilities that will advance research efforts in several areas, including parts qualification, failure analysis, assembly verification, weld analysis, in situ monitoring and additive manufacturing (AM) system qualification.
“The [imaging system] will be incredibly helpful to my and other materials science research,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Zachary Vrtis, an NPS doctoral student in mechanical engineering certified to operate the system. “The ability to do digital radiography and CT (computed tomography) scans on 3D-printed metal components is an incredible capability to non-destructively test components for defects.”
“The Naval Innovation Exchange-Additive Manufacturing (NIX-AM) team is excited to have this machine ready because we are actively working with the submarine and surface communities to identify and produce components with our in house and partner AM capabilities,” Vrtis adds.
NPS Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Research Associate Forest Shaner is another early certified operator on the new system. “This machine gives us the ability to visualize enclosed structures, assess porosity and density, check for signs of fatigue, and generate 3D models from scanned parts,” Shaner said.
Two critical factors to the rapid adoption of additive manufacturing across the Navy and Department of Defense is the qualification of parts, and the optimization of the printers making them. Researchers say the new cabinet X-ray will help the CAMRE team advance both.
For more information about CAMRE’s efforts to support the warfighter through advanced manufacturing, visit the CAMRE website at https://nps.edu/web/camre.
Date Taken: | 03.06.2024 |
Date Posted: | 03.05.2024 15:34 |
Story ID: | 465403 |
Location: | MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA, US |
Web Views: | 51 |
Downloads: | 0 |
This work, New Imaging Equipment Helps NPS, CAMRE Advance Research Efforts, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.