The wide variety of measuring techniques and the confusing range of measuring devices available on the market often make it difficult to decide which measuring equipment to invest in. The Fraunhofer IPT offers its clients systematic advice that meets the specific needs of industrial production companies and enables them to meet the metrology challenges they are faced with.

Testing activities often require individual measuring systems or testing devices that are not yet available on the market. The Fraunhofer IPT develops and builds specialized measuring solutions that fulfill specific requirements – in terms of metrology, costs and production technology.

The Fraunhofer IPT has a large number of measuring devices with which to characterize components of any size – from a meter to a nanometer. Our skills and equipment include the high precision multi-sensor detection of 3D geometries and surface detection in the sub-micrometer range needed for roughness analysis and optics testing.

The wide range of uses of ultra precision surfaces and microstructures and the increased quality standards that they must meet represent a real challenge for the quality inspection process and the related metrology. In its current research projects, the Fraunhofer IPT is developing new sensors or adapting and optimizing existing measuring techniques. This work focuses on interferometry and deflectometry. Nano measuring machines are equipped with various sensors to characterize extremely small structures. Another research topic at the Fraunhofer IPT is the analysis of optical measuring techniques via simulations.

One of the main areas of research at the Fraunhofer IPT is the miniaturization of metrology components. The use of fiber technology, micro-optics and micro-mechanical components makes it possible to significantly reduce the size of measuring systems in order to, for example, better integrate them into manufacturing processes.

Modern production processes need ever faster quality control loops. This increases the demands on the metrology, which must be process-oriented and quickly deliver the necessary data. This trend goes as far as to completely integrate autonomous measuring systems into production processes and machines.

Life Sciences Engineering, a highly dynamic area of growth, involves the increasing use of complex manufacturing techniques in automated production processes. The Fraunhofer IPT develops individual and effective process sensors with which to check the quality of these processes and control them.

Fiber-reinforced plastics are more and more used in mass applications like the automotive engineering due to decreasing prices and more efficient production processes. In aerospace applications and for high performance components these materials are already established in the market for several years. Fraunhofer IPT is developing automated quality assurance and repair concepts for its customers to increase the component quality and make production processes available for security relevant components. Not least, higher automation levels for quality assurance can improve the process efficiency and decrease your production costs.

The laser machining is determined by different machine, workpiece and environmental factors that directly affect the process stability and product quality. Basis for a robust and stable laser-based machining is hereby a process monitoring and control. Especially the monitoring of innovative processes, such as laser micro machining and structuring or laser machining of composites, glass and plastics, faces challenges.

The Fraunhofer IPT develops for this purpose high-precision material-independent in-line monitoring systems for process automation and control as well as quality assurance of laser processes.