Physical twin of an industrial quad-laser powder bed fusion machine for high-speed multi-modal sensing measurements

Abstract

To faithfully capture the laser-material interaction and subsequent process dynamics during the industrial laser powder bed fusion process, we developed a Quad-laser in situ and operando process replicator (or the Quad-ISOPR) – a physical twin that mimics the Renishaw plc.’s RenAM 500Q multi-laser additive manufacturing system that can be used in laboratories and synchrotron radiation facilities. The Quad-ISOPR allows users to take synchrotron X-ray measurements while collecting correlative high-speed optical and photodiode imaging within a 10 ns delay, mounted in-line with the scanning lasers. We have selected case studies to demonstrate: (i) multi-modal data acquisition; (ii) signal processing using continuous wavelet transform; (iii) the study of laser drilling with ultra high-speed X-ray imaging; (iv) process mapping of melting and defect modes in Ti-6Al-4V; and lastly, (v) we showcase the interaction between multi-lasers on a Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Our experimental approach allows end-users to explore the process-structure–property relationship in multi-laser material processing and to use such the physical twin to design new materials and processes.