3D computed tomography as Quality Control Tool in Advanced Composite Manufacturing

3D computed tomography (CT) is used as a quality control tool in composite manufacturing. The analyzed materials include natural fiber reinforced polymers (thermoplastics and thermosets), porous carbons, and silicon carbide (SiC) ceramics. Multistep manufacturing processes were used for the production of the composite materials. One manufacturing route includes the production of natural fiber reinforced composite (NFC) parts by extrusion of thermoplastic NFC filaments followed by 3D printing (fused layer modelling - FLM). In the other route, extrusion of wood polymer composites (WPC) is followed by a carbonization process for production of porous carbon templates, which are then converted to SiC ceramics by a liquid silicon infiltration process. 3D CT was used for the analysis of the intermediate as well as the final products. The results showed that 3D CT is a suitable tool for analysis of samples. Of particular interest is that defects like air inclusions and fiber agglomerates, which significantly diminish the quality of the final products, namely the 3D printed composites and the bio-based SiC ceramics, can already be found in the intermediate products, the extruded NFC filaments and the extruded WPC profiles, respectively. Therefore, 3D CT has the potential to be used as quality control tool during both manufacturing processes used in this study.