Use of Miniature Step Gauges to Assess the Performance of 3D Optical Scanners and to Evaluate the Accuracy of a Novel Additive Manufacture Process

In this work, we show how miniature step gauges featuring unidirectional and bidirectional lengths can be used to assess the performance of 3D optical scanners as well as the accuracy of novel Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes. A miniature step gauge made of black polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) was used for the performance verification of three different optical scanners: a structured light scanner (SLS), a laser line scanner (LLS), and a photogrammetry-based scanner (PSSRT), having comparable resolutions and working volumes. Results have shown a good agreement between the involved scanners, with errors below 5 μm and expanded uncertainties below 10 μm. The step gauge geometry due to the bidirectional lengths, highlights that there is a different interaction between the optical properties of the step gauge under measurement and each optical instrument involved and this aspect has to be considered in the uncertainty budget. The same geometry, due to its great significance in the detection of systematic errors, was used, as a novelty, to evaluate the accuracy of Lithography-based Ceramics Manufacturing (LCM), a proprietary additive manufacturing technology used for the fabrication of medical implants. In particular, two miniature step gauges made of Tricalcium Phosphate (TCP) were produced. Measurements conducted with the SLS scanner were characterized by a negligible error and by an uncertainty of about 5 μm. Deviations of the manufactured step gauges with respect to the Computer Aided Designed (CAD) model were comprised between ±50 μm, with positive deviations in the order of 100 μm on vertical sides. Differences in the order of 50 μm between the two step gauges were registered.