Resources

NASA believes the future of metal additive manufacturing isn't just faster production it's parts that are born qualified. In a new programme with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Phase3D is helping validate a real-time, in-situ qualification approach that could dramatically reduce reliance on costly post-build inspection. By capturing more than 50,000 layers of calibrated inspection data on an EOS M300-4, the project aims to demonstrate how continuous measurement throughout the build can accelerate qualification for flight-critical components and support the next generation of aerospace manufacturing.

Phase3D has partnered with Excel3D Advanced Technologies to expand access to Fringe Inspection™ across India, bringing real-time, in-situ inspection to manufacturers, researchers and engineering organisations. Discover how the partnership will help accelerate qualification, strengthen quality assurance and support the adoption of metal additive manufacturing.

Phase3D has partnered with the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) to advance additive manufacturing research through metrology-grade, in-situ inspection. The installation of Fringe Inspection™ enables researchers to capture traceable, layer-by-layer measurement data throughout the LPBF process, supporting process optimisation, machine qualification, materials development and stronger correlations between build conditions and final part quality.

How do you prove an in-situ inspection system is measuring accurately? This case study explores the standardized Validation & Verification (V&V) procedure behind every Fringe Inspection™ deployment, using NIST-referenced measurements to verify accuracy, repeatability and long-term system stability.

Phase3D's oversubscribed $2.9 million funding round marks the beginning of a new chapter as the company scales Fringe Inspection™ and advances its vision of making in-situ inspection a standard part of metal additive manufacturing.

Manual dimensional inspection remains one of the most time-consuming and costly stages of additive manufacturing qualification. This case study evaluates whether Phase3D's Fringe Inspection and Fringe Operator software can replace traditional post-build caliper inspection by performing dimensional measurements directly from in-process build data. Across walls, pins, and holes, Fringe Operator achieved R² > 0.99 correlation with manual measurements while demonstrating lower error relative to CAD on challenging hole geometries. The results show how in-process dimensional inspection can reduce operator-dependent variation, shorten qualification timelines, lower inspection costs, and provide earlier visibility into part quality during production.

Understanding the difference between monitoring, inspection, and qualification is essential for scaling additive manufacturing from prototyping to production. While process monitoring provides visibility into machine behaviour and build conditions, inspection delivers direct, measurable data about part quality, and qualification establishes confidence that parts consistently meet required standards. This article explores how these three layers of additive manufacturing quality control work together, why monitoring alone is often insufficient for production environments, and how measurement-driven inspection bridges the gap between process data and qualification. Learn how advanced in-situ inspection technologies are helping manufacturers reduce uncertainty, improve process control, and accelerate the adoption of production-scale additive manufacturing.

In-situ inspection is transforming additive manufacturing by bringing real-time measurement and analysis directly into the build process. Instead of detecting defects after production is complete, manufacturers can now identify, quantify, and track issues layer by layer as they occur. This shift from reactive inspection to continuous process insight is helping aerospace, defense, and medical manufacturers improve quality, reduce inspection bottlenecks, and scale additive manufacturing with greater confidence.

Discover how quality assurance in additive manufacturing ensures consistent part quality through real-time monitoring, in-situ inspection, and data-driven process control. Learn why QA is essential for reducing defects, lowering costs, and enabling scalable production.

Phase3D today announced the release of two new large-format Fringe Inspection™ Systems for metal additive manufacturing. The new systems, Large Format Fringe Inspection™ and Large Format Fringe Inspection™ Hi-Rez, extend Phase3D’s in-situ inspection technology to support the EOS M 400 series of printers and other large-format platforms such as the Nikon SLM NXG product line.

Discover how Phase3D’s Fringe Inspection™ technology revolutionises spatter detection in metal additive manufacturing (AM) by linking surface roughness measurements to porosity. Unlike traditional camera-based or AI-driven monitoring, Fringe Inspection delivers quantitative, traceable, micron-accurate data, revealing how gas flow inefficiencies and energy density affect part quality. 

Accelerating Additive Manufacturing Quality Reviews with Fringe Operator™
In high-volume additive manufacturing, inspecting thousands of build layers for anomalies is a major bottleneck. One manufacturer using Phase3D’s Fringe Inspection cut review times by over 70% by combining Quality Chart anomaly visualisation with Adjustable Colorbars. 

Discover how leading manufacturers are using Phase3D’s Fringe Inspection™ to improve additive manufacturing outcomes in this on-demand customer panel webinar. Featuring real-world insights from Elementum 3D, Alloyed, and CCAM, the session explores how in-situ heightmap data is transforming production monitoring, reducing scrap, and ensuring part quality in real-time.