Sigma Labs, Inc. a provider of quality assurance software under the PrintRite3D brand, has announced that it will work with Airbus to complete a Test and Evaluation Program of Sigma Labs' new PrintRite3D version 5.0 hardware and software followed by a validation phase on a powderbed fusion printer.
Sigma Labs also announced that it has also been selected by a major OEM machine manufacturer to install the company's PrintRite3D products. As part of the agreement, the OEM will complete Sigma's Rapid Test and Evaluation Program and will install the PrintRite3D in two different countries for analysis and proof-of-performance purposes.
Airbus
Under the Test and Evaluation program, Sigma Labs will provide Airbus with comprehensive PrintRite3D In-Process Quality Assurance (IPQA) system and services-hardware, software, training, engineering and metallurgical consulting and support services-to demonstrate their ability to monitor and characterize material, machine process and production consistency and repeatability of additive manufacturing (AM) operations.
John Rice, Chairman and CEO of Sigma Labs, said, "We are honored and indeed feel very privileged to have our IPQA tools as well as engineering staff engaged with Airbus, an aircraft manufacturer. PrintRite3D INSPECT 5.0 is designed to provide the market with a user-friendly experience to rapidly qualify an AM metal machine for serial production, and then, in the course of continuous production runs, to be able to warn process engineers of `signature' precursors of process discontinuities and thus enable them to extract actionable data to restore the process. Our industry appears to be accelerating in its sophisticated quality requirements including highly accurate and economic third-party quality assurance. We at Sigma have committed ourselves to meet that need."
"The Test and Evaluation program will demonstrate the power of Sigma Labs' new PrintRite3D INSPECT 5.0 and reveal the value-add of implementing IPQA to ensure process quality by identifying process defect thermal signatures," said a company spokesperson.
The application and growth of additive manufacturing (AM) in the aircraft industry continues to advance. Process qualification is critical to increasing and assuring quality, reducing waste and raising quality yields. PrintRite3D provides process knowledge and understanding about melt pool dynamics that can lead to improved process consistency and a broader scope of applications for AM.
OEM Machine Manufacturer
Under the program, Sigma Labs will provide on-site equipment and in-depth technical support, teaming with the OEM to demonstrate PrintRite3D's capability to boost 3D metal AM performance to improve and sustain machines' yield of high quality parts by providing in-process third party, independent quality assurance. The objective of the two RTEs is to prove a business use case on-site that clearly demonstrates the value of PrintRite3D INSPECT to characterize materials, differing machines, product-specific processes and provide a logical starting point for Sigma and the OEM to work more closely together in the future.
Rice said, "This OEM is one of the most renowned brands in the industry and has long been a leading pioneer of in-process machine quality and process controls on a vast number of its high precision manufacturing machines even before the company's diversification into additive manufacturing, so we believe that our in-process tools are an excellent fit to both the technology and very high quality culture of this great company. We look forward to providing a granular update on our progress after the conclusion of the RTE program in the fourth quarter of 2019."
For more information contact:
Sigma Labs Inc.
3900 Paseo del Sol
Santa Fe, NM 87507
505-438-2576
info@sigmalabsinc.com
www.sigmalabsinc.com