Low coherence interferometry in selective laser melting

Enthalten in
Physics procedia 
Volume
56
Start Page
82
End Page
89
Citation
Physics Procedia C (56): 82-89 (2014-01-01)
Contribution to Conference
8th International Conference on Photonic Technologies LANE 2014 
Publisher DOI
10.1016/j.phpro.2014.08.100
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-84923121475
Publisher
Elsevier
© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is an additive layer manufacturing technology that offers several advantages compared to conventional methods of production such as an increased freedom of design and a toolless production suited for variable lot sizes. Despite these attractive aspects today's state of the art SLM machines lack a holistic process monitoring system that detects and records typical defects during production. A novel sensor concept based on the low coherence interferometry (LCI) was integrated into an SLM production setup. The sensor is mounted coaxially to the processing laser beam and is capable of sampling distances along the optical axis. Measurements during and between the processing of powder layers can reveal crucial topology information which is closely related to the final part quality. The overall potential of the sensor in terms of quality assurance and process control is being discussed. Furthermore fundamental experiments were performed to derive the performance of the system.
Schlagworte
Laser beam melting (LBM)
Low Coherence Interferometry (LCI)
MEGaFiT
Process monitoring
Selective laser melting (SLM)
DDC Class
620: Ingenieurwissenschaften