Measured Data Alignments for Monitoring Metal Additive Manufacturing Processes Using Laser Powder Bed Fusion Methods

Abstract

The number and types of measurement devices used for monitoring and controlling Laser-Based Powder Bed Fusion of Metals (PBF-LB/M) processes and inspecting the resulting AM metal parts have increased rapidly in recent years. The variety of the data collected by such devices has increased, and the veracity of the data has decreased simultaneously. Each measurement device generates data in a unique coordinate system and in a unique data type. Data alignment, however, is required before 1) monitoring and controlling PBF-LB/M processes, 2) predicting the material properties of the final part, and 3) qualifying the resulting AM parts can be done. Aligned means all data must be transformed into a single coordinate system. In this paper, we describe a new, general data-alignment procedure and an example based on PBF-LB/M processes. The specific data objects used in this example include in-situ photogrammetry, thermography, ex-situ X-ray computed tomography (XCT), coordinate metrology, and computer-aided design (CAD) models. We propose a data-alignment procedure to align the data from melt pool images, scan paths, layer images, XCT three-dimensional (3D) model, coordinate measurements, and the 3D CAD model.