MULTI-SPECTRAL METHOD FOR DETECTION OF ANOMALIES DURING POWDER BED FUSION ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

• Main Authors: Reutzel, Edward W, Nassar, Abdalla R, Dunbar, Alexander J
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 27.02.2020
• Subjects: ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY; ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OFTHREE-DIMENSIONAL [3-D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVEAGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3-D PRINTING,STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING; CASTING; COLORIMETRY; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MEASUREMENT OF INTENSITY, VELOCITY, SPECTRAL CONTENT,POLARISATION, PHASE OR PULSE CHARACTERISTICS OF INFRA-RED,VISIBLE OR ULTRA-VIOLET LIGHT; MEASURING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; POWDER METALLURGY; RADIATION PYROMETRY; TESTING; TRANSPORTING; WORKING METALLIC POWDER

Embodiments of the systems can be configured to receive electromagnetic emissions of a substrate (e.g., a build material of a part being made via additive manufacturing) by a detector (e.g., a multi-spectral sensor) and generate a ratio of the electromagnetic emissions to perform spectral analysis with a reduced dependence on location and orientation of a surface of the substrate relative to the multi-spectral sensor. The additive manufacturing process can involve use of a laser to generate a laser beam for fusion of the build material into the part. The system can be configured to set the multi-spectral sensor off-axis with respect to the laser (e.g., an optical path of the multi-spectral sensor is at an angle that is different than the angle of incidence of the laser beam). This can allow the multi-spectral sensor to collect spectral data simultaneously as the laser is used to build the part.