Characterization and In-Process Metrology of a Laser Powder Fusion Additive Manufacturing Machine

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Land, W. (2015). Characterization and In-Process Metrology of a Laser Powder Fusion Additive Manufacturing Machine. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

Laser powder bed fusion is one of the most commonly used processes by which metal parts are produced through an additive manufacturing approach, and it is currently the topic of extensive research. This paper describes the study of two aspects of the laser powder bed fusion process through the testing of a prototype fusion chamber produced specifically for research purposes. The laser fusion system studied herein utilizes a 2-axis galvanometer scanner system as a means of manipulating the planar position of a laser spot to produce sintering of the powder bed. As the scanner is the primary means of creating relative motion between the laser spot and the powder bed, its performance directly impacts the dimensional accuracy of the final part. As such, one aspect of the laser powder bed fusion process studied and discussed in this paper is the characterization of the scanner’s ability to accurately position the laser spot over the powder surface. The second aspect of the fusion process studied herein is the ability to collect in-situ data on the powder surface immediately before and after the fusion process as a means of improving the understanding of the process and for characterization of the part being produced. The complex metal parts produced by such processes are often very difficult to dimensionally characterize after the build process is complete. Therefore, it is valuable to the industry to measure each layer of the build process, while features that may eventually be obscured are still available for interrogation. This paper describes the development of a metrology system which performs areal height measurements of the powder surface to dimensionally characterize final part geometry on a layer-by-layer basis.

Details
Author

Land, William

Title

Characterization and In-Process Metrology of a Laser Powder Fusion Additive Manufacturing Machine

Physical Description

1 online resource (134 pages) : PDF

Date

2015

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

Laser powder bed fusion is one of the most commonly used processes by which metal parts are produced through an additive manufacturing approach, and it is currently the topic of extensive research. This paper describes the study of two aspects of the laser powder bed fusion process through the testing of a prototype fusion chamber produced specifically for research purposes. The laser fusion system studied herein utilizes a 2-axis galvanometer scanner system as a means of manipulating the planar position of a laser spot to produce sintering of the powder bed. As the scanner is the primary means of creating relative motion between the laser spot and the powder bed, its performance directly impacts the dimensional accuracy of the final part. As such, one aspect of the laser powder bed fusion process studied and discussed in this paper is the characterization of the scanner’s ability to accurately position the laser spot over the powder surface. The second aspect of the fusion process studied herein is the ability to collect in-situ data on the powder surface immediately before and after the fusion process as a means of improving the understanding of the process and for characterization of the part being produced. The complex metal parts produced by such processes are often very difficult to dimensionally characterize after the build process is complete. Therefore, it is valuable to the industry to measure each layer of the build process, while features that may eventually be obscured are still available for interrogation. This paper describes the development of a metrology system which performs areal height measurements of the powder surface to dimensionally characterize final part geometry on a layer-by-layer basis.

Genre

masters theses

Subjects--Topics

Mechanical engineering
Meteorology

Degree

M.S.

Keywords

Additive Manufacturing
DMLS
Fringe Projection
Laser Scanner
Powder Fusion
SLM

Subject Area

Mechanical Engineering

Advisor(s)

Ziegert, John

Committee Members

Schmitz, Tony
Miller, James

Degree Note

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2015.

Rights Statement

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). For additional information, see http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/.

Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Land_uncc_0694N_10907

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:1290