Additive Manufacturing

New designs and technology are increasing incorporating complex components and many of these are now made using additive manufacturing techniques. It is essential that the powder conforms with tight specifications and the finished products are free from defects and meet the required material properties.

We have experience working with a wide range of materials and different stages within the additive manufacturing process. Our characterisation and testing package include:

• Powder morphology, size and distribution
• Sieve testing (ASTM B214)
• Apparent and tap density (ASTM B212 and B257)
• Hall Flow (ASTM B213 and B964)
• Microstructure, grain size assessment (ASTM F305, E112 and E930)
• Defect analysis such as lack of fusion, porosity, distortion, inclusions and oxidation assessment
• Material chemistry (ASTM E1019)
• Residual stress measurements
• Surface finish and texture assessment
• Hardness testing (ISO:6507)
• Mechanical testing (ASTM E1012)

Comprehensive testing laboratories with a range of destructive and non-destructive testing techniques, including:

• Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with Energy-Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDX)
• Optical microscopy
• Infinite Focus Microscopy
• Vickers, Brinell and Rockwell hardness tester
• Tensile testing at elevated temperature, up to 1100°C
• Charpy and Izod
• X-ray Computerised Tomography (CT) Scanner
• X-ray diffraction (XRD)
• ICP-OES, ICP-MS, XRF