Reliability Centered Additive Manufacturing Design Framework

Analatom and Applied Research Laboratory Penn State University proposes to apply modern concepts from simulation, corrosion modeling, control theory along with Prognostics Health Management (PHM) in the development of an end-to-end, prognostics-based Additive Manufacturing (AM) materials assessment architecture. The project team will consider four potential levels of implementation that includes molecular dynamics simulation of material corrosion and cracking defects, AM advanced statistical process control and monitoring, enhancing end-use items with corrosion, strain sensors and operational environment assessment techniques. Selection of appropriate applied levels architecture will be dependent on the desired target application. Emphasis will be placed on developing a flexible computational framework that incrementally learns optimal parameters and discerns parameter sets that lead to degradation profiles.During Phase I we will develop an approach for a Reliability-Centered AM Computational Design Framework (RCAM CDF) focused on selective laser melt (SLM) AM processes for metallic components. This design framework will initially include minimum part geometry for a load bearing coupon structure, with defect types and densities induced by design of the AM build fabrication process, followed by laser Computed Tomography (CT) inspection of the components, with subsequent in situ structural monitoring sensors (corrosion, strain) to record the accelerated lifetime and fatigue testing.