0000000000471666
AUTHOR
John Rudlin
Inspection of additive-manufactured layered components
Laser powder deposition (LPD) is a rapid additive manufacturing process to produce, layer upon layer, 3D geometries or to repair high-value components. Currently there is no nondestructive technique that can guarantee absence of flaws in LPD products during manufacturing. In this paper a laser ultrasonic technique for in-line inspection of LPD components is proposed. Reference samples were manufactured from Inconel and machined flaws were created to establish the sensitivity of the technique. Numerical models of laser-generated ultrasonic waves have been created to gain a deeper understanding of physics, to optimize the set-up and to verify the experimental measurements. Results obtained on…
Defect detection in laser powder deposition components by laser thermography and laser ultrasonic inspections
Laser Powder Deposition (LDP) techniques are being adopted within aerospace and automotive manufacturing to produce innovative precision components. Non-destructive techniques (NDT) for detecting and quantifying flaws within these components enables performance and acceptance criteria to be verified, improving product safety and reducing ongoing maintenance and product repair costs. In this work, software enabled techniques are presented for in-process analysis of NDT laser ultrasonic signals and pulsed laser thermography images of sequential metallic LPD layers. LPD tracks can be as thin as 200μm while deposited at a rate of 500 mm/min, requiring ultrafast inspection and processing times. …