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At the Workshop "Neutron and Synchrotron Monitoring in Aerospace Advanced Manufacturing" at the Institute of Materials Physics in Space, German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne, we presented on the opportunities and our experiences of using a powder based additive manufacturing process for in-space manufacturing applications in microgravity.
In-space manufacturing (ISM) provides the opportunity to manufacture and repair critical components on future human spaceflight missions. For explorations to Mars and beyond, ISM is a key strategy not only due to the long travel distances and high costs of supply from earth but also to be able to safely work in space for years. Human spaceflight is still dependent on shipments from earth that can fail for several reasons. ISM is a valuable alternative to ensure the timely and safe resupply of space missions.
With additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, components are built directly from a 3D computer-aided-design (CAD) model which offers the advantages of freedom of design and the production of complex and ready-to-use parts. A virtual tool box with 3D models in space or the supply of information instead of components from earth to space can strongly benefit future missions. For industrial use, most research has focused on laser based additive manufacturing processes such as laser beam melting (LBM) where metallic powder particles are spread into a uniform powder bed and melted by a laser to the desired shape.
In the absence of gravity, the handling of metal powders, which is essential for the process, is challenging. We present an evolution of an AM system, where a gas flow throughout the powder bed is applied to stabilize the powder bed. This is needed to compensate for the missing gravitational forces in microgravity experiments on parabolic flight campaigns. The system consists of a porous building platform acting as a filter for the fixation of metal particles in a gas flow. It is driven by reduced pressure established by a vacuum pump underneath the platform. The system creates a drag force that directs the particles towards the porous building platform, similar to the effect of the gravitational force.
The AM system with its gas-flow-assisted powder deposition has been tested in several parabolic flight campaigns, and stainless-steel powder has successfully been processed during microgravity conditions. Different powder recoating mechanisms have been investigated to assess the homogeneous distribution of the powder as well as the attachment of the next layer to the powder bed. These mechanisms included different container designs with parallel double blades and with a V-shape at the bottom, and a roller recoating system. The samples presented are the first metal parts ever manufactured using LBM in μ-gravity. In addition to manufacturing in a μ-gravity environment, the experiments have shown the feasibility to manufacture components at different accelerations during the parabolic flight: hyper gravity (1.8 g), μ-gravity (< 0.01 g) and 1 g. Recent results will also be presented describing the application of this LBM setup in a parabolic flight campaign with mixed lunar, martian and µ-gravity acceleration, during which the processing of a lunar regolith simulant powder was tested.
For ISM, the development and testing of the proposed AM system demonstrates that LBM can be considered a viable technology for the manufacturing of metal and ceramic parts in a μ-gravity or reduced-gravity environment.
Additive manufacturing (AM) opens the route to a range of novel applications. However, the complexity of the manufacturing process poses a challenge to produce defect-free parts with a high reliability. Since process dynamics and resulting microstructures of AM parts are strongly influenced by the involved temperature fields and cooling rates, thermography is a valuable tool for process monitoring. Another approach to monitor the energy input into the part during process is the use of optical tomography.
Common visual camera systems reach much higher spatial resolution than infrared thermography cameras, whereas infrared thermography provides a much higher temperature dynamic. Therefore, the combined application increases the depth of information. Here, we present first measurement results using a laser beam melting setup that allows simultaneous acquisition of thermography and optical tomography from the same point of view using a beam splitter. A high-resolution CMOS camera operating in the visible spectral range is equipped with a near infrared bandpass filter and images of the build plate are recorded with long-term exposure during the whole layer exposing time. Thus, areas that reach higher maximum temperature or are at elevated temperature for an extended period of time appear brighter in the images. The used thermography camera is sensitive to the mid wavelength infrared range and records thermal videos of each layer exposure at an acquisition rate close to 1 kHz.
As a next step, we will use computer tomographic data of the built part as a reference for defect detection.
This research was funded by BAM within the focus area Materials.
The quality of components made by laser beam melting (LBM) additive manufacturing is naturally influenced by the quality of the powder bed. A packing density <1 and porosity inside the powder particles lead to intrinsic voids in the powder bed. Since the packing density is determined by the particle size and shape distribution, the determination of these properties is of significant interest to assess the printing process. In this work, the size and shape distribution, the amount of the particle’s intrinsic porosity, as well as the packing density of micrometric powder used for LBM, have been investigated by means of synchrotron X-ray computed tomography (CT). Two different powder batches were investigated: Ti–6Al–4V produced by plasma atomization and stainless steel 316L produced by gas atomization. Plasma atomization particles were observed to be more spherical in terms of the mean anisotropy compared to particles produced by gas atomization. The two kinds of particles were comparable in size according to the equivalent diameter. The packing density was lower (i.e., the powder bed contained more voids in between particles) for the Ti–6Al–4V particles. The comparison of the tomographic results with laser diffraction, as another particle size measurement technique, proved to be in agreement.
As humanity contemplates manned missions to Mars, strategies need to be developed for the design and operation of hospitable environments to safely work in space for years. The supply of spare parts for repair and replacement of lost equipment will be one key need, but in-space manufacturing remains the only option for a timely supply. With high flexibility in design and the ability to manufacture ready-to-use components directly from a computeraided model, additive manufacturing (AM) technologies appear extremely attractive. For the manufacturing of metal parts, laser-beam melting is the most widely used AM process. However, the handling of metal powders in the absence of gravity is one prerequisite for its successful application in space. A gas flow throughout the powder bed is successfully applied to compensate for missing gravitational forces in microgravity experiments. This so-called gas-flow-assisted powder deposition is based on a porous Building platform acting as a filter for the fixation of metal particles in a gas flow driven by a pressure difference maintained by a vacuum pump.
Additive manufacturing (AM) opens the route to a range of novel applications.However, the complexity of the manufacturing process poses a challenge for the production of defect-free parts with a high reliability. Since process dynamics and resulting microstructures of AM parts are strongly influenced by the involved temperature fields, thermography is a valuable tool for process surveillance. The high process temperatures in metal AM processes allow one to use cameras usually operating in the visible spectral range to detect the thermally emitted radiation from the process. In our work, we compare the results of first measurements during the manufacturing processes of a commercial laser metal deposition (LMD) setup and a laser beam melting (LBM) setup using a MWIR camera with those from a VIS high-speed camera with band pass filter in the NIR range.
We investigated lattice structure manufactured by laser beam melting with computed tomography on difference scales, such as powder scale, strut scale and lattice scale.
The raw powder has been evaluated by means of synchrotron computed tomography (CT) at the BAM-Line (HZB Bessy II, Berlin). Therefore, the particle size distribution and even the pore size distribution was investigated and compared with results received by the producer by means of sieving. Studies with laboratory X-ray CT of porosity and roughness of manufactured struts in dependence of the build angle exhibited the tendency that elongated pores appear solely in a certain range near the edge. The integrity and load-bearing capacity of a lattice structure was investigated by means of in-situ CT during compression. The lattice structure was compressed by 10 % in height with an applied maximum force of 5 kN. We applied digital volume correlation algorithm on volumes of different load steps to quantifies the displacement within the structure.
Im Fokus dieser Arbeit steht die computertomographische (CT) Untersuchung (Synchrotron- und Labor-CT) von IN625-Pulver und den daraus gefertigten Streben, welche wiederum zu Gitterstrukturen zusammengesetzt werden. Aufgrund der Filigranität wurde zur Fertigung dieser Proben das pulverbettbasierte selektive Laserschmelzen verwendet.
Porositätsanalysen und Größenverteilungen wurden für das Pulver bei einer rekonstruierten Voxelgröße von 0,5µm ermittelt. 6,0mm lange Streben variierten im Aufbauwinkel von 30° bis 90° zur Bauplattform und zeigten so den Unterschied zwischen Up- und Down-Skin hinsichtlich der Rauigkeit und Porenverteilung. Die Gitterstrukturen konnten in-situ mit bis zu 5,0kN belastet werden, um deren Verformung computertomographisch zu erfassen.