We leverage on additive manufacturing to enhance precision finishing through the development of novel polishing tools, such as our functionally graded lattice structure [1] that can produce dedicated tool properties to accommodate different contact pressures for different types of work materials. Our research demonstrated the effectiveness of this process in polishing optical surfaces on glass. We have also employed additive manufacturing to develop soft measurement tools alongside the integration with machine learning algorithms for intelligent measurement. Our successfully integration allows for the specific measurement of surface roughness along internal surfaces that are hard to access using conventional methods, with a 10.1% measurement error for surfaces rougher than 1 μm, which was deemed suitable for quality control of most engineering surfaces, especially the AM surfaces.

Publications

[1] J. Zhang, H. Ruochen, H. Wang, 3D-printed functionally-graded lattice structure with tunable removal characteristics for precision polishing, Additive Manufacturing, 59 (2022) 103152.

Acknowledgements

This research is proudly supported by the A*STAR Industry Alignment Fund (A19E1a0097).