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METAL COMPONENTS

A surface that reflects light just like a defect does.

Metal components — cast, machined, stamped — pose a different imaging challenge than plastics: glare and surface shine can mask scratches and cracks, or the reverse, mimic a defect.

A metal surface — raw, ground, anodised or plated — reflects light strongly. That makes lighting choice and setup matter more here than for matte plastics, and a reflection can be hard to tell apart from a scratch without proper optics qualification.

Defects on metal components — cracks, casting porosity, machining burrs, corrosion — can be subtle and require high resolution relative to part size. Assessing camera and optics against the minimum defect size that needs detecting is the first qualification step here.

Because of material weight and hardness, metal components also often have different positioning and fixturing requirements on the station, which affects imaging repeatability — and therefore inspection quality.

What we look at during qualification

  • 01 Glare and surface shine depending on finish (raw, ground, anodised)
  • 02 Camera resolution relative to the minimum defect size to detect
  • 03 Positioning repeatability for a heavy or irregularly shaped component
  • 04 Telling a reflection apart from a real scratch or crack

Common applications in this industry

FAQ

Metal components

Does a shiny metal surface make inspection harder?+

It does if lighting hasn't been matched to it — that's one of the first things we check during camera, optics and lighting qualification before the pilot.

Can AIVQC detect casting porosity?+

It depends on whether the porosity is visually apparent at the available resolution. Defects requiring X-ray imaging fall outside standard visual inspection.