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What other people write about us.
Electric vehicles are moving upward and outward on the technology adoption curve, driven by societal pressure to find more sustainable sources of power, especially for automobiles. Advancements in the development of electric vehicles (EVs) have accelerated the demand for battery technology. However, several challenges still persist around the design and production of EV batteries that engineers must be aware of, and eventually reckon with ...
Date of Publication: January 2023
As CT scanning of parts becomes an increasingly routine quality-inspection step for manufacturers in automotive, aerospace, energy, medicine and other industries, the software that interprets that CT-scan data is becoming ever-more sophisticated, as well as more user-friendly. Leading software provider Volume Graphics recently received a 2023 industry award for their Adaptive Measurement Template application ...
Date of Publication: January 2023
In the world of high-volume automotive cylinder-head production, the yields realized from casting processes count for a lot. Having to reprocess faulty heads is inefficient enough. Sending them through expensive post-cast machining processes, only to find that they are not up to standard, is an equal or greater cost. Late-stage rejection of any machined product because of sub-spec quality means that machining assets have been stranded, labor wasted, throughput slowed and product-to-market-fulfillment time lost ...
Date of Publication: December 2022
In competitive mold-making and injection-molding markets, where tight pricing and narrow profit margins are the norm, end quality is the one thing that distinguishes a manufacturer from others. Molds have to be perfect, and the correct-specification parts made from them must be delivered on time and with no production delays. It always sounds simple, but truly understanding all sources of underlying part variation is not ...
Date of Publication: December 2022
In the race to optimise AM technologies for the creation of both breakthrough designs and direct part replacements, it is more necessary than ever that companies have access to the deep insights and data needed to advance part designs and processing at every phase of product development ...
Date of Publication: December 2022
Computed tomography (CT) scan data analysis is already widely used in aerospace production. This advanced software methodology is present at the final inspection of everything from critical engine turbine blades to foam structures inside cabin environments. It plays a large role in non-destructive testing ...
Date of Publication: December 2022
While intraoral scanners are becoming increasingly popular for fabricating single crowns and veneers, they are also expensive, and only about 15 percent of dentists have them. What's more, in the lateral and posterior tooth region, the accuracy of such scans remains quite limited. As a result, particularly when several teeth are being treated for bridges or aligners, the creation of a plaster cast ...
Date of Publication: October 2022
Only a little over a hundred years ago, cars were just beginning to replace horses as the standard form of transport. Leaping forward to this decade, car manufacturers worldwide are once again in transition, planning substantial moves away from sole reliance on the internal combustion engine (ICE) to a cleaner, greener future centered around reliable, efficient EV motor...
Date of Publication: October 2022
As the use of advanced materials and manufacturing methods in aerospace and defense continues to evolve, CT scanning is increasingly proving its worth as the ultimate in nondestructive testing, particularly for the most valuable parts and components. Whether it’s a reinforced composite helicopter blade, a machined titanium rocket nozzle, a 3D-printed aircraft heat exchanger with complex internal channels, or a lithium-ion battery powering essential electronics, proving out the integrity of the piece nondestructively has many advantages...
Date of Publication: July 2022
Measuring parts that are very close to tolerance is relatively easy. When the features and tolerances to be measured are where you expect them, your measurement device can be programmed using the nominal shape. But in the beginning of a part’s life cycle, early in its design, and during necessary iterations until the tool or mold and the production parameters are perfected, that’s often not the case...
Date of Publication: April 2022
Volume Graphics has introduced the latest version 2022.1 of its VGSTUDIO MAX software. The latest release offers a number of new innovative features specifically focused on the measurement of 3D printed and injection molded parts which often exhibit distortion. The latest software feature include:...
Date of Publication: April 2022
Software innovations add even more detail and automation to non-destructive CT inspection, which makes material and part performance evaluations easier, among other advantages...
Date of Publication: January 2022
Recent innovations in 3d scanning workflows are transforming the workflow for reality capture. 3D scanner companies have developed a new generation of lightweight, highly portable scanners that can be used by operators with little or no scan experience. There are also automated and robotic scan solutions. Together these improvements have enabled scanning of very large parts and assemblies, as well as entire buildings and campuses for architecture applications. In addition, the scanners are being used for historic preservation, reverse engineering, quality control, measurement, and other applications...
Date of Publication: December 2021
The benefits of automation in manufacturing of electronics parts and components may appear self-evident, with speed and the avoidance of human error high on the list. Yet, automation can also bring challenges to quality control. Legacy visual, manual/physical or periodic/ batch sampling methodologies are of limited use with today’s high-speed production lines, and can result in a significant proportion of discarded parts...
Date of Publication: November 2021
For Formula 1 race teams, speed is as important off the track as on it. That’s because speedy engineering produces more upgrades that make the car faster, providing drivers with the elusive “unfair advantage” described by the late driver/engineer Mark Donahue in his 1974 book by the same name. The Alpine F1 Team (previously known as the Renault F1 Team) employs Volume Graphics’ VGSTUDIO MAX analysis and visualization software to maximize engineers’ efficiency when developing better parts to build a faster car...
Date of Publication: Decem2021
Computed Tomography (CT) is the process of collecting multiple x-ray images of an object, taken from different angles, and then assembled to produce revealing cross-sections of the object’s structure, and in that way revealing the internal conditions of the structure. The process is important in its own right – but the software that manages and evaluates the results of CT scans is equally critical...
Date of Publication: November 2021
Engineers are on a never-ending quest to design and build products that are more fuel-efficient, stronger yet lighter, able to fly faster and travel greater distances than their predecessors. The mission parameters are essentially no different than those of the first hot-air balloons or winged craft; what’s changed are the manufacturing technologies and materials used to achieve these lofty objectives...
Date of Publication: October 2021
Peter Davis, CT Automation Manager, and Jake Rickter, Automation Specialist, both at Pinnacle X-Ray Solutions, explain how inspection and evaluation of individual parts can be performed in seconds...
Date of Publication: September 2021
Around the world customers such as the Alpine F1 Team put their trust in Volume Graphics. Not only in the insightful software, but also in comprehensive consulting, support, and training. Volume Graphics gives them a decisive advantage – the ability to gain reliable insights and make better products...
Date of Publication: August/September 2021
Because of their high-power density, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are subject to strict quality monitoring. Industrial computed tomography is increasingly being used to detect any defects before delivery or during production. The CT analysis software from Volume Graphics, Heidelberg, provides functions that allow a deep look into the inner workings of energy storage devices. Methods from the field of artificial intelligence are also becoming increasingly important...
Date of Publication: July 2021
Automation can produce large quantities of product quickly, but ensuring end-part quality is a critical challenge. Visual, manual, or periodic sampling methodologies can be imprecise, slow, or come in too late to trigger a timely line stoppage once a manufacturing error has occurred, resulting in a high proportion of discarded parts.
Date of Publication: July 2021
For as long as there has been commercial and military flight, aircraft component suppliers have been charged with providing dimensional and process control-related data. Aerospace and defense manufacturing, and associated maintenance and repair operations (MRO), are undergoing some fundamental technology shifts right now. One of the drivers of this is additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, which is having a profound effect on the way that air- and space-craft designers and part-replacement makers go about their work...
Date of Publication: July 2021
Qualifying parts for aerospace takes on special significance when parts are 3D-printed. Metals and polymers used to make 3D-printed components are essentially forged on the fly, so there may be questions about material integrity that must be answered comprehensively and scientifically. Especially with flight-critical parts, the technology used to accomplish this task is computed tomography, better known as CT scanning...
Date of Publication: June 2021
Composite materials for aerospace & defense continue on a path of market growth fueled by tightening environmental and economic targets. This trend is occurring alongside rapid innovations in design, manufacturing, automation and cost reduction. Although slowed by the global pandemic, the increasing role of composites for many industries is, in fact, a foregone conclusion. More and more, composites performance—expressed in the elegant functionality of a curved wingtip on an airliner or in the fewer, thinner, winding fan blades of a GE9X engine—demonstrate an accelerating freedom-of-form and utility that makes composites essential to the future...
Date of Publication: June 2021
A conversation with Contributing Editor Kip Hanson
Kip Hanson: Phillip, most folks in the AM industry associate CT scanning and the resultant data analysis with metal powder bed-printed parts. What about polymers and composites? Is CT scanning needed there, as well?
Phillip Sperling, Volume Graphics: The increased use of CT scanning for metal powder bed fusion parts is usually associated with high-value parts and elevated quality requirements, many of which are produced using metal powder bed fusion...
Date of Publication: June 2021
Computed tomography data analysis and visualization provide intelligent quality assurance for EV batteries. Because of their power density, lithium-ion batteries as used by electric vehicles (EV) are subject to strict quality monitoring. Industrial computed tomography (CT) increasingly is being used to detect defects and internal changes throughout a battery’s lifecycle, while CT-data analysis and visualization software provides functions that allow a deep look into the inner workings of energy storage devices. Methods from the field of artificial intelligence also are becoming increasingly important...
Date of Publication: May 2021
The latest version of Volume Graphics’ high-end CT data analysis software suite, version 3.5, brings enhanced capabilities to manufacturers looking for better ways to inspect parts and improve designs—however they are made.
Date of Publication: May 2021
Quality has become one of the most important aspects of additive manufacturing, and there’s an unusual way to ensure quality using CT scans. When 3D printing emerged it remained in the prototyping space for many years, largely due to the relatively fragile materials available on the equipment at the time. However, once metal 3D printing matured it began to slowly make its way into production areas, becoming additive manufacturing...
Date of Publication: May 2021
Because of their high-power density, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are subject to strict quality monitoring. Industrial computed tomography is increasingly being used to detect any defects before delivery or during production. The CT analysis software from Volume Graphics, Heidelberg, provides functions that allow a deep look into the inner workings of energy storage devices. Methods from the field of artificial intelligence are also becoming increasingly important...
Date of Publication: April 2021
A recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute predicts that between 39 and 73 million jobs in the United States could be changed due to automation, with emphasis on early adopters benefiting the most. With that in mind, some x-ray system manufacturers have made the technical investment that is required to integrate systems with existing production lines...
Date of Publication: April 2021
Volume Graphics has released version 3.4.5 of VGSTUDIO MAX, VGSTUDIO, VGMETROLOGY, VGinLINE, and myVGL. New features and capabilities in the latest release include: Support of BDG Reference Sheet P 203...
Date of Publication: February 2021
In early Spring of 2020, the phone calls and emails started streaming in to the mechanical engineering department of the University of Wisconsin – Madison: “We don’t have enough ventilators, can you design something else?” Then a couple weeks later, “Okay, we have enough ventilators, now we need personal protection equipment (PPE), face shields, and N95 masks.” And suddenly another call for help, “We think we’re going to have to put a powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) on every person who comes in contact with a COVID-19 patient — we don’t have enough and the ones we have aren’t getting the job done!” The local hospital needed assistance on a variety of fronts...
Date of Publication: February 2021
In early Spring of 2020, the phone calls and emails started streaming in to the mechanical engineering department of the University of Wisconsin – Madison: “We don’t have enough ventilators, can you design something else?” Then a couple weeks later, “Okay, we have enough ventilators, now we need personal protection equipment (PPE), face shields, and N95 masks.” And suddenly another call for help, “We think we’re going to have to put a powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) on every person who comes in contact with a COVID-19 patient — we don’t have enough and the ones we have aren’t getting the job done!” The local hospital needed assistance on a variety of fronts...
Date of Publication: December 2020, Page 50-53
AM production enables the creation of parts not possible with traditional technologies through new design concepts, new materials, and new applications, but still presents challenges.
Date of Publication: December 2020
Advanced CT-scan analyses can offer deep insight into challenges faced when examining novel composites and hybrid material behavior or performing quality and certification testing. Part two of a two-part series. ...
Date of Publication: November 2020
Volume Graphics is now extending data export from its non-destructive testing and analysis software based on industrial computed tomography (CT) to the statistics software Q-DAS qs-STAT. This close cooperation between Volume Graphics and Q-DAS, which are now united under the roof of Hexagon, a leading global provider of sensor, software and autonomous solutions, takes automation to the next level:...
Date of Publication: November 2020
Imaging and analysis via computed tomography (CT) has potential for certifiable safety and business sustainability and could be key for interior inspections of composite parts. Part 1 of a two-part series...
Date of Publication: October 2020
In early Spring of 2020, the phone calls and emails started streaming in to the mechanical engineering department of the University of Wisconsin – Madison: “We don’t have enough ventilators, can you design something else?” Then a couple weeks later, “Okay, we have enough ventilators, now we need personal protection equipment (PPE), face shields, and N95 masks.” And suddenly another call for help, “We think we’re going to have to put a powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) on every person who comes in contact with a COVID-19 patient — we don’t have enough and the ones we have aren’t getting the job done!” The local hospital needed assistance on a variety of fronts...
Date of Publication: August 2020
Headquartered in Germany, Volume Graphics, has more than 20 years of experience in the development of software for non-destructive testing based on industrial computed tomography (CT). The company, which was founded in 1997, enables its customers to keep the quality high by getting full insight into their products—from design to serial production. Since 2020, Volume Graphics is part of Hexagon. ...
Date of Publication: Summer 2020
Scientists used computer tomography (CT) to dissect mummified animals that died 2,000 years ago to learn more about how they lived. This is the subject of an article published by scientists at the University of Swansea in Wales, UK, which is the basis for a report by CNN. Read both articles to find out more about how non-invasive X-ray microcomputer tomography (microCT) imaging makes it possible to examine smaller mummified bodies, such as animals, with higher resolution.
Date of Publication: August 2020
Digital analysis and physical testing are becoming increasingly integrated in the pursuit of optimized product design and development across a wide swath of industries. With the release of its VGSTUDIO MAX version 3.4 software, Volume Graphics, a leading CT-data analysis and visualization company, has added and augmented important functionalities that help designers and manufacturers capture and interrogate product data to improve final quality.
Date of Publication: Summer 2020
Like its medical counterpart, industrial CT scanning uses a series of X-ray images to construct dimensionally-accurate images. The difference, however, is that industrial CT can see through plastic, metal, and more. It’s able to generate three-dimensional models of everything from engine blocks to integrated circuit boards. Further, when married to smart, highly integrated software, CT scan data can be put to work within a host of analytical functions, making it as much an engineering tool as a comprehensive metrology solution.
Date of Publication: June 2020
In healthcare, if you need to see beyond the patient's visible symptoms for a more thorough diagnosis, you run a computed tomography (CT) scan. In manufacturing, if your so-called patient happens to be a composite part, you may turn to Volume Graphics to get something similar-an inside view of the part.
Date of Publication: March 2020
Hexagon AB, a global leader in sensor, software and autonomous solutions, announced today the signing of an agreement to acquire Volume Graphics, a market leader in the industrial computed tomography (CT) software industry.
Date of Publication: November 2019
Renault F1 Team is pleased to announce a multi-year agreement with Volume Graphics, a market leader in the development of software for non-destructive testing.
Date of Publication: November 2019
VG says CT technology is typically (but not exclusively) used on smaller parts (size of a pinhead to the size of a smartphone), with VG’s software providing imagery of specific fiber placement or overall fiber orientation. The resolution/granularity of the VG software’s images depends on how close the CT detector is to the part being scanned; the closer the detector is, the better the voxel resolution is. The software’s speed of analysis depends on the computing hardware on which it operates and the size of the CT dataset it is reading. In general, say VG representatives, image and analysis are completed within minutes of CT data delivery...
Date of Publication: November 2019
Many manufacturing companies today focus on maximizing product quality for the customer. Recently, companies have started using non-destructive testing (NDT) methods as a means to improve product quality. When compared to more traditional destructive testing methodologies, NDT methods result in lower costs because destructive testing inherently destroys parts. ...
Date of Publication: October 2019
The transition from metal to composite is one of the most recent significant changes in manufacturing. The former material is isotropic, exhibiting uniform stretching and bending behavior in all directions. By contrast, composites are anisotropic. They stretch, bend and break differently in different directions, based on how the fibers are woven together and how the laminates are bound. The fundamental difference throws many traditional simulation protocols into chaos...
Date of Publication: October 2019
As manufacturers more and more recognize additive manufacturing (AM) as a viable production alternative, they find themselves facing new challenges in informatics or systems integration. Every day, operators answer and raise several questions related to platforms interoperability. Today, we seize the opportunity to complement existing efforts in current digital solutions. Experts from Authentise, AMendate and Volume Graphics share their expertise in this topic.
Volume Graphics, the leading provider of industrial CT software according to management consultants Frost & Sullivan, has announced its involvement with the Kunststoff-Institut in a second joint project on “Rapid Tooling” with companies from a wide range of industries.
AM makes it possible to incorporate complex internal features, but there is no point in specifying precise internal parts made this way if they can’t be inspected. Computed tomography (CT) scanning has become a powerful tool in the AM arsenal, offering a nondestructive testing (NDT) option to validate the geometry and material properties of a 3D printed part all the way through. ...
Volume Graphics has announced the latest generation of its software solutions for non-destructive quality assurance with industrial computed tomography (CT): Version 3.3 of VGSTUDIO MAX, VGSTUDIO, VGMETROLOGY, and VGinLINE.
Industrial CT analysis software uncovers aerospace manufacturing defects that scanning alone might miss.
Quality assurance and flight certification of critical aerospace parts and assemblies have reached new levels of sophistication in recent years. Leading aerospace and defense manufacturers worldwide now consider computed tomography (CT) scanning to be an essential part of their non-destructive testing (NDT) toolkit. ...
With a reputation for ground-breaking technological advancements in the CT software sector, Volume Graphics is once again leading the industry with new and innovative software applications.
The Heidelberg, Germany-based company specializes in the development of software for non-destructive testing based on industrial computed tomography (CT) data. It has a broad range of global customers from the automotive, aerospace and electronics industries that use its software for quality assurance in product development and production. ...
Computed tomography (CT) is used as an effective inspection tool.
Unwanted porosity is typical to many manufacturing processes — from traditional casting to additive manufacturing (3D printing) — and is difficult to avoid entirely. Manufacturers need to know what amount of porosity is tolerable inside a part without affecting its strength and performance. ...
Plastics has been an ideal material for high-volume, durable products for decades. For the automotive industry, plastic molded parts range from instrumentation buttons, intake manifolds, and cooling and heating vent components, to aerodynamic exterior sections of sports cars, trucks, and SUVs. These broad part categories may involve advanced carbon and glass fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP and GFP) alongside standard go-to plastics such as PA 6.6 or ABS. ...
Injection molding provides the unmatched ability of producing high numbers of complex plastic parts very quickly with outstanding quality. This is why injection molding has been the standard for decades to produce high-volume, durable products. As the volumes grow, so does the competition. To stay competitive, you need to meet the numerous and challenging demands on the quality of your products. ...
Including computer tomography in design and production can speed time to market, lowering costs for advanced, lightweight plastic components.
With plastics making up half of vehicles today – and set to grow to 75% of vehicle weight by 2020 – the need to manage design challenges, production efficiency, and quality in a uniform digital environment has never been greater. ...
For applications that require lightweight structures able to maintain stiffness and strength, 3D printed lattice structure are often used. The complex forms are simple to 3D print, and their mechanical properties – mostly influenced by relative density – can generally be predicted with a simplified model for open cell foams. An important application is making 3D printed bone replacement implants for the medical field, as lattice structures can be designed with target pore size and porosity, and their Young’s Modulus can be tailored to match native bone and facilitate ingrowth. ...
Industrial computed tomography cuts deep for applications beyond just porosity analysis.
Industrial computed tomography has been a buzz-worthy technology for several years, and NDT experts know it’s a valuable tool for inspecting the complex internal geometries of 3D-printed parts, or for finding porosity in both additively and traditionally manufactured parts. ...
Additive Manufacturing enables the production of infinitely complex parts, but with that complexity challenges arise when it comes to inspection. Al Dean looks at a system aiming to close that loop with CT data. ...
Industrial computed tomography scanning (CT scanning) is a quality-assurance technique that is making its way into mold shops for speedy adjustments and corrections on injection molds, but only if it is used correctly. ...
CT scanning allows manufacturers to look inside parts made with additive manufacturing to measure complex internal designs.
In the medical field, computed tomography (CT) scanning has helped enable new 3D printing applications—physicians can use 3D-printed models of human organs (like the heart) generated from highly accurate CT scans of patients to prepare for complex surgeries, for example.
However, CT scanners could play an even more important role in additive manufacturing in the future by providing detailed quality scans of printed parts for many industries. They are already being used to scan items for reverse engineering operations that use 3D printing. ...
A new software feature from Volume Graphics allows you to combine the visually powerful data of an optical 3D scanner with the all-encompassing detail of a CT scan with just one click. One of the first applications of this new feature was on the scan of the Sherit mummy.
VGSTUDIO MAX, the high-end software for the visualization and analysis of industrial computed tomography (CT) data, played a major role in 3D printing a replica of a 2,800-year-old bronze figure. The figure of a horse rider, the so-called “Rider of Unlingen,” was printed with Concept Laser’s M2 cusing process using a bronze alloy that closely resembles the material of the original rider. After scanning the original figure with computed tomography, VGSTUDIO MAX 3.0 was used to create the printable 3D model of the figure.
Despite all its advantages, Additive Manufacturing needs to win the trust of manufacturers and consumers if it is to become a serious alternative to established manufacturing methods. Delivering quality is the only way to achieve this. However, Additive Manufacturing poses special challenges to quality control - challenges traditional tactile and optical non-destructive testing methods cannot overcome. Only CT (in combination with the right software) is capable of capturing all features of an object, both inside and outside – and all while preserving the product. ...
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