Vol. 21 No. 1 (2024): Journal of Non Destructive Testing and Evaluation (JNDE), March 2024
Research Papers

X-Ray Computed Tomography for Holistic Inspection of Additively Manufactured Heat Exchangers

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  • Pradeep Bhattad,
  • Curtis L. Frederick

Published 10-03-2024

Keywords

  • X-Ray CT,
  • Dimensional measurements,
  • Powder characterization,
  • Porosity detection,
  • Surface roughness

How to Cite

Pradeep Bhattad, & Curtis L. Frederick. (2024). X-Ray Computed Tomography for Holistic Inspection of Additively Manufactured Heat Exchangers. Journal of Non Destructive Testing and Evaluation (JNDE), 21(1), 55–61. Retrieved from https://jnde.isnt.in/index.php/JNDE/article/view/80

Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Non-Destructive Testing and Evaluation (JNDE)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Additive manufacturing provides a unique opportunity to create complex parts without the need for extensive tooling. This capability has led to a significant reduction in assembly requirements, opening the design space to create efficient and compact heat exchangers. As the additive manufacturing (AM) industry progresses towards producing complex parts and fully assembled products, existing dimensional measurement tools are proving to be insufficient for qualifying these components. Moreover, traditional part defects that could lead to leakage or cross-mixing of fluids become harder to inspect.

Since most AM processes produce a rough surface, and the internal surfaces in heat exchangers are not available for inspection or surface-smoothing treatment, it is even more imperative that the parts are printed with the correct print parameters to produce as smooth and defect-free surfaces as possible. All these inspection challenges could be addressed using X-ray CT, and the technique can also prove to be a holistic inspection tool, addressing even raw material for impurity, size, and shape, as well as for developing print parameter optimization for a known or a novel material.

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