Additive Manufacturing Sensor Fusion Technologies for Process Monitoring and Control.

This Phase II project aims to assemble the key set of sensor modalities that are needed to reliably view the key process anomalies and properties of laser powder bed fusion. The research team will down-select from the Phase I sensors investigated and integrate the sensors into a sensor fusion software package that facilitates data collection and synchronization, and eventually feedback control of the AM process. The research team will then prove the sensors see all key process variations, and perform robust effect of defect studies that will supply the data needed for developing accurate process windows, and hence closed-loop feedback control algorithms. Next the team will determine what corrective actions are needed to fix the specific process variations that occur and implement those actions in the software system. The algorithms and sensing techniques will be demonstrated against baseline builds on multiple AM systems to prove their validity and capability, and a plan for transitioning the technology into the DoD supply chain will be developed.