Annual Event focuses on role of Additive Manufacturing in precision engineering
February 25, 2019
The 19th Annual Conference & Exhibition hosted by the European Society for Precision Engineering & Nanotechnology (euspen) will be held in Bilbao, Spain 3-7th June 2019. The Annual Event will include presentations discussing key issues of concern to AM, including work that is being undertaken today to promote precision in the process, and to analyse dimensional errors and surface topography. Also of interest is the topic of design for Additive Manufacturing (DFAM), focusing on the issues design engineers need to consider in order to enable the manufacture of highly complex, often customised parts with graded material composition.
As the additive manufacturing sector matures, the event organiser states that there is a necessity to characterise the performance of AM machines, focusing on in situ process monitoring, in-process measurement, and process feedback and correction, all of which will be discussed at the event, as will be the subject of AM standards. The use of AM for end-use parts requires a level of standardisation that was not as important when the technology was almost entirely focused on prototyping. Standards must embrace multiple AM platforms using radically different technologies to produce parts, and must become application-oriented rather than technology oriented.
Metrology is an ever-present area of focus in AM, and will also be discussed at the Annual Event. The ultimate goal is to provide manufacturers of components using AM with the metrology instrumentation and post-measurement analysis techniques that will allow them to keep processes under tight control, therefore improving quality, reducing scrap rates, and enhancing environmental sustainability. This will require completely new approaches to instrument design, combining prior expertise and fundamental research to overcome the obstacles preventing current instrumentation from delivering with the required accuracy and measurement speed.
The Annual Event also provides a forum for the discussion of how AM can be integrated into a holistic manufacturing process. Cost-benefit trade-offs of using AM within a complex manufacturing process is of huge interest, as are the engineered partnerships between AM and secondary finishing operations.
The European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology (euspen) is an influential community linking industrialists, researchers, respected authorities, new, and established players worldwide. It provides an entrepreneurial platform that enables companies and research institutes to promote their latest technology developments, products, and services and keep up to date with those in the field.
