Volume Graphics’ new release is said to help users collaborate and evaluate product quality from CT and other non-destructive testing technologies.
HEIDELBERG, Germany—The widespread digitization of manufacturing is enabling companies to make products faster. As a result, the physical inspection of finished goods, based on computed tomography (CT) and other industrial product-scanning technologies, has taken on even more importance, according to a release from Volume Graphics.
As the digital product-development pathway has become increasingly sophisticated, the ease-of-use of accompanying scan-data-based, quality-assurance software is key to its successful application in aerospace, automotive, electronic, medical, and other industries, Volume Graphics said in the release.
Volume Graphics 2024.1, the newest release of the company’s advanced non-destructive evaluation software suite, responds to this need for ease of use. With enhanced data-interpretation, collaboration, and presentation capabilities, the software is said to enable users to easily refine, integrate, and share their quality results and initiatives for product manufacturing.
The underlying architecture of the suite—which includes VGSTUDIO MAX, VGSTUDIO, VGMETROLOGY, VGinLINE, and myVGL—harnesses sophisticated algorithms developed over decades. It incorporates greater automation and includes customized, deep-learning tools. The latest updates enable even the non-expert user to apply these resources quickly and effectively to quality evaluation throughout the product lifecycle—and collaborate with the experts in a common language, the company said.
Sharing scan data results and reports is a vital part of moving a manufacturing organization forward on the journey towards optimal product quality. Reporting needs to flow from engineers to managers, who may not have run any analyses themselves but want to understand when and where a particular pore or crack occurred. They may also want to understand why an accept or reject call was made or a design change implemented.
New in 2024.1 is what Volume Graphics describes as a highly intuitive HTML report functionality that supports 3D interactive part or result views. Self-contained documents are now easily accessible with any Chromium-based browser, like Edge or Chrome, so that analyses can be interactively viewed at any stage of the quality-assurance process, the company said.
Along with this, a new PNG export functionality requested by users is available. When using PNG as a storage or data-exchange format, all images produced by Volume Graphics analyses can now be copied and pasted directly into almost any kind of media, without the need for additional file conversions. This change is said to provide for much more powerful visualizations, reports, and presentations—and a faster workflow for importing or exporting volume data.
Linear functionality is valuable for users concerned with geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T). The common abbreviations used to indicate linear sizes are now visually represented directly within report graphics. This simplifies standard conform measurements by providing direct support for modifier symbols—and empowers easier evaluations for many size features such as two-point measurements (LP), envelope requirement (E), and global modifier symbols like (GG), according to Volume Graphics.
Updates in Volume Graphics’ porosity inclusion analysis (PIA) capabilities are reported to make it even easier for casters to meet industry-compliance requirements P 202 and P 203. Multiple regions of interest can be evaluated to determine whether they are in tolerance, or not—with instant, color-coded viewing of tolerance states, the company said.