The National Physical Laboratory, based in Teddington, south-west London, is Britain’s national measurement institute and the country’s largest applied physics laboratory. While its main purpose is to manage the MSF time signal and provide the government with expert scientific advice, it also provides scientific skills training to everyone from school leavers to postgraduates, and supports private companies with their services.
在由Serco拥有和经营的私人实体多年之后，NPL现在是一家公共公司，其母公司由商业，能源和工业策略部拥有。3D打印行业参加了他们的展示柜，展示了NPL在高级制造中的四个关键焦点领域，其中添加剂是一个。雷电竞充值
Making 3D printed components fit for purpose
雷电竞充值随着主流行业逐渐采用，增材制造技术的重要性越来越重要。NPL Measurement Engineer向我解释说：“借助所有加性制造的组件，我们的工作是确保它们适合目的的工作。”“我要做的是使用X射线技术和计算机辅助可视化的组合分析组件。”
On the screen, he shows me a scan of a 3D printed titanium engine part. Inside it is a cavity, invisible to the naked eye, but a serious fault in the component. It is NPL’s seal of approval that ensures that companies can have confidence in additively manufactured components.
Additive materials characterisation scientist Tony Fry shows me an electron microscope image of titanium-based spherical metal powders to illustrate some of the further problems. “Metal powders are expensive,回收它们是有意义的。但是，激光烧结和熔化过程扭曲了最接近激光的球体。”
The microscopic projections and animations show how the laser creates “satellites” around some of the spheres and stretches others, making them less suitable than “virgin” metal powder for printing when the powder bed is mixed up again for re-use. Solving these seemingly small deficiencies is the key to improving the overall quality of additively manufactured components.
Destruction and Investment
There are two new and upcoming facilities at the National Physical Laboratory of note. I tour the Instrumentation lab, and get a glimpse of a component that has been custom made for the European Space Agency.
不良贷款的材料测试设备正在增长。Purpose built to test composite materials both dynamically and statically, it has cost £1.6 million, and is set to fully open in early 2018. For now, a mere virtual reality tour through the lenses of a headset will have to do.
I’m guided through realistic 3D simulations of the testing machines, with integrated education labs. The vast array of hydraulic machines, capable of testing most materials to destruction, will be turned to some of the 3D components provided for testing at NPL. Peter Fuller, engineer atInstron, which produces the machines, explained how they would be important in comparing the strength of 3D printed materials against alternatives.
与首席执行官彼得·汤普森（Peter Thompson）博士和制造业学家戴维·巴特勒（David Butler）博士的一词
首席执行官彼得·汤普森（Peter Thompson）博士和苏格兰NPL主管Matthew Maynard博士的开幕词专注于NPL在受益于行业和投资人方面的作用。Emphasised is improving the NPL’s relationship to the “end user” by interacting with industries directly. Testing 3D printed components against forged and and milled equivalents to see which will be of most value to the customer is paramount.鉴于NPL与政府的关系以及与Britain’s changing international status.
“因此，您不仅仅是为工业雇用枪支吗？”后来我问汤普森和巴特勒。They both laugh. “Of course, our primary function still is, first and foremost providing scientific services to the government,” Thompson replies, “if a private company wishes to use us and our world class technology, then it can hire us to do that.”
长期研究和合作的一部分是必需的train people. Butler notes that “in the future, people at all skill levels will need to be familiar with the technology.” This applies particularly to 3D printing where almost everyone involved will need to be familiar with the automated processes.
“Training people all the way from levels one through to nine, and encouraging personal development of individuals is another way that we support and deliver value to companies,” says Thompson.
Butler adds, “Say I were to send off a part to be 3D printed. You should ask, “where’s my guarantee? You may have a manufacturer’s word alone, but you can’t always afford just that. We provide a metrology service to deliver that confidence and guarantee.”
To help provide this service, NPL is partnered with companies such as Instron, and institutions such as the University of Strathclyde, whose robot technology isused to scan 3D printed structures layer by layerfor faults.
使英国工业重新站起来
由于长期行业经验由于节奏快速发展和进步而无法获得，因此需要专门的设施来确保对3D印刷组件的信心。国家物理实验室看起来只会通过增强对添加剂制造的信心，从而提供整个行业的利益。雷电竞充值
Our featured image shows Strathclyde University’s埃里克Robot drawing the author’s face. Photo via NPL.
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