Qualification of rapid prototyping tools: proposition of a procedure and a test part

Rapid prototyping machines are becoming faster at manufacturing machine tools. The processes of quality assurance impose the qualification of the production devices. A procedure and a test part are proposed for that purpose; intended for the family of processes of point-by-point layer manufacturing. Existing test parts only permit benchmarking and comparisons between machines: their capacity can be evaluated, but the test part analysis does not make it possible to establish the link between noted defects and their causes. The proposed process and test part permit the identification of the defects and whether their origins are machine or material linked. This paper describes the approach used to design the test part. Some preliminary measures were made on a test part, in order to discuss procedure and measurements