10119712Surf AdditiveClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKThe Surf Additive project sees Parker Meggitt and NPL team up to develop a surface texture characterisation method for additively manufactured metal parts, to enable accurate measurement of true dimensions. As-printed parts have high surface texture which makes accurately establishing the true gauge diameter of tensile test bars uncertain, leading to inaccurate derived mechanical properties. Parker Meggitt depends on accurate, reliable and consistent mechanical test data to advance the development of competitive lightweight additive manufactured (AM) heat exchanger products. We perform tensile testing in-house to supply this data, whose primary use is in structural analysis models. Current data is insufficiently accurate, necessitating the use of high structural safety margins in our product design. This results in excessive product weight and reduced efficiency and competitiveness. This project will bring significant improvement in data accuracy and thereby enable us to design lighter more competitive products for the global aerospace industry.