Micro gears are applied in an increasing quantity in many applications. Therefore, precise measurements are of growing importance to ensure their quality. This contribution describes the measurement of gears of a micro planetary gear set with a tactile probe, a tactile-optical probe, an optical sensor, and computed tomography (CT). For the tactile measurements, a high precision piezoresistive microprobe was used. A so-called fiber probe was applied for tactile-optical measurements. This probe applies image processing to determine the position of the tactile probing element. For all tactile and tactile-optical measurements, single point probing was used. The optical measurements were carried out with an imaging sensor based on focus variation. Due to limited accessibility, on some gears not all regions could be measured by the optical sensor and the tactile-optical probe. In contrast to this, with CT the whole part could be measured with high point density. We used a micro-CT system and carried out measurements with Synchrotron-CT. All the sensors used deliver measurement data in Cartesian coordinates. It is a challenge to transfer these data into coordinates in which gear parameters are defined. For this, special attention must be paid to the determination of the gear axis and to the orientation of the teeth. The applied procedures are detailed for different micro gears. The comparison between data of different measurements was carried out successfully. The deviations between the CT data and the tactile or tactile-optical data lie in the range of only a few micrometers.
Analyzing damages at concrete structures due to physical, chemical, and mechanical exposures need the application of innovative non-destructive testing methods that are able to trace spatial changes of microstructures. Here, the utility of three different crack detection methods for the analysis of computed tomograms of various cementitious building materials is evaluated. Due to the lack of reference samples and standardized image quality evaluation procedures, the results are compared with manually segmented reference data sets. A specific question is how automatic crack detection can be used for the quantitative characterization of damage processes, such as crack length and volume. The crack detection methods have been integrated into a scientific visualization system that allows displaying the tomography images as well as presenting the results.
Industrial computed tomography (CT) today is an important method to analyze defects and to measure the geometry of technical products. The measurement capability of industrial CT often depends on the knowledge of the measurement errors being present. Only with this knowledge, effective corrections are possible by manufacturers, or adapted measurement procedures become possible for the customers. Thus, there is the strong need to have adequate reference standards both for the assessment of general dependencies and for the measurement of task-specific effects. Especially the latter are difficult to assess. This paper shows the application of a versatile dismountable workpiece-near reference body for the use with CT. The reference standard was made from a miniaturized cast aluminium (one-)cylinder head. It can be dismounted into four segments, each featuring reference geometries which enable a registration of CT measured and other reference datasets (e.g. from tactile CMM). The reference standard embodies complex freeform surfaces which are a challenging measurement task for CT and other sensors. Here the application of the reference standard is the study of the influence of material mixes. This is realized by adding pieces of other materials which disturb the mono-material measurement.
Results of the application of the reference standard are presented using data from industrial micro-CT systems and CMM reference data. A special emphasis is given on the workflow of the data processing and the data analysis.
Archaeological bone, ivory and antler, as well as objects manufactured from them, are largely studied to extract as much information as possible from these materials. Among others, one key question in archaeology is the exact identification of the material. Even if the identification of different kinds of osseous material seems to be trivial in many cases, it can be a difficult issue when small, heavily carved and more or less altered ancient objects are concerned. This study was focused on the determination of parameters allowing the distinction of archaeological ivory, bone and antler in order to identify the raw material used for the manufacture of prehistoric objects. The high performance of synchrotron radiation (SR) and laboratory-based micro X-ray computed tomography (microCT), providing highly resolved three-dimensional information on the micromorphology, permitted the establishment of such distinctive features of modern references of ivory, antler, land mammal and whale bones: ivory shows characteristic tubular pores with a diameter of about 1 to 2 µm, bone and antler show typical osteon structures. In our measured references, antler shows on average larger and more elongated shaped pores of the osteons compared to terrestrial mammal bone. This feature however depends very much on the original localization of the studied sample within the antler. Whale bones can be distinguished from the other osseous materials by a cancellous, osteoporotic-like structure with irregularly distributed rounded porosities with diameters reaching up to 500 µm. These characteristics have also been tested on determined Palaeolithic fragments, as diagenetic changes during burial have to be considered and may lead to the modification of the parameters established on the basis of modern bone references. In general, the chemical composition of bone objects can change drastically over time while micromorphological features, as evidenced by microCT, seem to be less susceptible to such alterations. In addition, microCT enables the comparison of inner and possibly less altered parts of the objects, and can be considered as completely non-destructive for small mineralised prehistoric objects. In this study, specific morphological features allowing the distinction of ivory and of whale bone from other bone and antler material were determined, even for altered materials dating back to Palaeolithic periods. Thus, we provide, in addition to archaeozoological, chemical and isotopic markers, a new non-destructive tool to identify some raw materials used for the fabrication of osseous objects ranging from recent to prehistoric periods.
Ziel des Vorhabens ist die hochgenaue und vollständige Erfassung innerer und äußerer Geometrien von Mikrobauteilen mittels Mikro-Computertomographie (µCT). Industriell wichtige Mikrobauteile sind z.B. Einspritzsysteme, Festplattenkomponenten oder Instrumente für die minimal-invasive Chirurgie. Typische Bauteilgrößen liegen hier im Bereich 0,1 mm - 100mm; typische zu messende Strukturen haben Größen von 0,5 µm - 500 µm. Mit klassischen Methoden der Messtechnik ist eine schnelle und hochgenaue Erfassung der gesamten Oberfläche von Mikrobauteilen bisher kaum möglich. Innenstrukturen von Mikrobauteilen können mit keiner optischen oder taktilen Messtechnik zerstörungsfrei gemessen werden. Diese Einschränkungen sollen mittels hochgenauer µCT überwunden werden. Hierzu soll der Messprozess simuliert werden, um die Anwendung von Korrekturverfahren zur Genauigkeitssteigerung zu ermöglichen. CT-Messungen an kalibrierten Mikroprüfkörpern sollen die Korrekturverfahren verifizieren. Für die Kalibrierung der Prüfkörper sollen Multisensor-Verfahren entwickelt und getestet werden. Diese sollen es erlauben, Prüfkörper gleichzeitig hochgenau und mit großer Messpunktdichte zu kalibrieren. Es ist geplant, die an Prüfkörpern erreichten Messunsicherheiten und Auflösungen zum Projektabschluss an realen, industriellen Mikrobauteilen (z.B. Mikrozahnrädern) messtechnisch nachzuweisen.
Die Produktion von elektronischen, optischen und elektro-mechanischen Mikro- und Nanosystemen stellt hohe Anforderungen an die Messtechnik, um die Fertigungsprozesse zu optimieren und die Qualität zu prüfen. Existierende Messverfahren unterliegen Beschränkungen hinsichtlich des Auflösungsvermögens, der Messfeldgröße und des Ergebnisses der Messung. Der kombinierte Einsatz von Sensoren mit unterschiedlichen Fähigkeiten in den Auflösungsstufen mittels einer intelligenten Messstrategie ermöglicht eine effiziente Prüfung.
Neben den geeigneten Prüfstrategien werden auch Methoden zur Fusion und Auswertung der Daten von Sensoren mit unterschiedlichen Auflösungsfähigkeiten benötigt. Datenfusion bezeichnet dabei das Zusammenfügen verschiedener Messungen, um entweder unterschiedliche Eigenschaften eines Messobjekts in einem gemeinsamen Koordinatensystem angeben zu können oder um aus verschiedenen Messungen derselben Eigenschaft des Messobjekts einen Datensatz von höherer Qualität gegenüber den einzelnen Datensätzen zu erhalten. Voraussetzung für die Datenfusion ist Registrierung, die eine Überführung von Messdaten unterschiedlicher Messfelder oder Messmittel in ein gemeinsames Koordinatensystem darstellt und Thema dieses Beitrages ist.
Die Computertomographie (CT) hat sich als dimensionelle Messmethode in der industriellen Produktion etabliert. Durch Messungen an speziellen Prüfkörpern ist es möglich, quantitative Informationen über die metrologischen Eigenschaften dimensioneller Messungen zu erhalten. In dieser Arbeit wird einen Aluminium-Guss-Prüfkörper (120 mm x 90 mm x 60 mm) benutzt, mit dem – in der vorliegender Form – auch der Einfluss von Materialien unterschiedlicher Schwächung auf dimensionelle CT-Messungen untersucht werden kann. Der Prüfkörper ist in vier Segmente zerteilt, so dass auch innenliegende, raue Gussfreiformflächen der taktilen Koordinatenmessung zugänglich sind. Durch adaptierte Rubinkugeln als Referenzstrukturen können die CT-Messdaten in taktile Referenz-Koordinatensysteme überführt werden. Um den Einfluss von Materialien unterschiedlicher Schwächung auf das dimensionelle Messen mit CT zu untersuchen, wurden stärker schwächende ZTA-Störkugeln (Zirconia Toughened Alumina) mit zur Ausrichtung geeigneter Symmetriebrechung in der Nähe von ausgewählten taktilen Messstellen angebracht.
Zur Bewertung der Messabweichungen dienen taktile Referenzmessungen an den ZTA-Kugeln sowie taktile Messungen an den Freiformflächen des Gussteils, wobei durch ein iteratives Antastverfahren eine verbesserte Erfassung der Geometrie auch bei starken lokalen Oberflächenkrümmungen sichergestellt wird.
Die industrielle Computertomographie (CT) ist ein gut bekanntes Verfahren zur zerstörungsfreien Prüfung von Werkstücken. In den letzten Jahren wird die CT aber zunehmend auch für dimensioneile Messungen von Werkstücken eingesetzt. Der wesentliche Vorteil der CT liegt in der Kompletterfassung mit hoher Messpunktdichte, die auch für andere Messverfahren unzugängliche, innere Geometrien einschließt. An kleinen Bauteilen können Strukturen bis herunter zu wenigen Mikrometern gemessen werden, wodurch sich das Verfahren gut für die Messung von Mikroteilen eignet. Nachteilig ist, dass viele Einflussgrößen das Messergebnis beeinflussen, was die Rückführung der Messergebnisse, die Bestimmung der Messunsicherheit und die Definition von Spezifikationen für CT-Anlagen erschwert.
Der Beitrag stellt nach einer Einführung in das Verfahren Anwendungsbeispiele der CT an Mikroteilen vor. Darüber hinaus geht der Beitrag auf Prüfkörper und -verfahren zur Einmessung und Überprüfung von CT-Anlagen ein und berichtet über aktuelle Normungsaktivitäten. Abschließend werden Möglichkeiten zur weiteren Steigerung der Auflösung aufgezeigt, um zukünftig möglicherweise auch Nanogeometrien messen zu können.
We present a modified aluminium casting which is especially suited as test piece for measuring casting defects and the geometry by means of cone-beam micro-focus X-ray systems, and which may become a reference standard for dimensional measurements and defect detection.
To obtain a test piece with inner geometries measured by tactile means, we divided a small aluminium cylinder head into four pieces in such a way that most inner surfaces can be reached with a tactile probe. Reference geometries (spheres and cylinders) were applied to define a coordinate system for aligning the measurements in the disassembled and re-assembled state. The four pieces were re-assembled after the tactile measurement.
The test piece also contains casting defects. In order to be able to use the assembled cylinder head as reference sample for defect detection, measurements with higher spatial resolution and better signal-to-noise ratio were performed on the single parts. For improving the reliability of the reference measurements, CT measurements of each part were carried out in three different orientations, and the individual defect detections were combined to obtain a reference data set with a high probability of defect detection and a low rate of erroneous detections.
A new method for comparing the defect detection in a CT measurement to a reference data set is demonstrated, which provides individual information on every detected flaw.
We discuss the results of measurements in the assembled state with respect to the reference data for flaw detection.
Pyrolysis and fire behaviour of a phosphorus polyester (PET-P-DOPO) have been investigated. The glycol ether of the hydroquinone derivative of 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide was used as a reactive halogen-free flame retardant in PET-P-DOPO. PET-P-DOPO is proposed as an alternative to poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) with established halogen-free additives. It exhibits a high LOI (39.3%) and achieves V-0 classification in the UL 94 test. Three different mechanisms (flame inhibition, charring and a protection effect by the intumescent char) contribute to the flame retardancy in PET-P-DOPO and were quantified with respect to different fire risks. The fire load was reduced by 66% of the PBT characteristic. The reduction is the superposition of the relative reduction due to flame inhibition (factor 0.625) and charring (factor 0.545). The peak of heat release rate (pHRR) was reduced by 83% due to flame inhibition, charring and the protection properties of the char (factor 0.486). The strength of all three mechanisms is in the same order of magnitude. The intumescent multicellular structure enables the char to act as an efficient protection layer. PBT flame-retarded with aluminium diethylphosphinate was used as a benchmark to assess the performance of PET-P-DOPO absolutely, as well as versus the phosphorus content. PET-P-DOPO exhibits superior fire retardancy, in particular due to the additional prolongation of the time to ignition and increase in char yield. PET-P-DOPO is a promising alternative material for creating halogen-free flame-retarded polyesters.