The goal of this work to mitigate flaws in metal parts produced from laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing (AM) process. As a step towards this goal, the objective of this work is to predict the build quality of a part as it is being printed via deep learning of in-situ layer-wise images obtained from an optical camera instrumented in the LPBF machine. To realize this objective, we designed a set of thin-wall features (fins) from Titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) material with varying length-to-thickness ratio. These thin-wall test parts were printed under three different build orientations and in-situ images of their top surface were acquired during the process. The parts were examined offline using X-ray computed tomography (XCT), and their build quality was quantified in terms of statistical features, such as the thickness and consistency of its edges. Subsequently, a deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) was trained to predict the XCT-derived statistical quality features using the layer-wise optical images of the thin-wall part as inputs. The statistical correlation between CNN-based predictions and XCT-observed quality measurements exceeds 85%. This work has two outcomes consequential to the sustainability of additive manufacturing: (1) It provides practitioners with a guideline for building thin-wall features with minimal defects, and (2) the high correlation between the offline XCT measurements and in-situ sensor-based quality metrics substantiates the potential for applying deep learning approaches for the real-time prediction of build flaws in LPBF.
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Deep Learning-Based Data Fusion Method for In Situ Porosity Detection in Laser-Based Additive Manufacturing
Abstract Laser-based additive manufacturing (LBAM) provides unrivalled design freedom with the ability to manufacture complicated parts for a wide range of engineering applications. Melt pool is one of the most important signatures in LBAM and is indicative of process anomalies and part defects. High-speed thermal images of the melt pool captured during LBAM make it possible for in situ melt pool monitoring and porosity prediction. This paper aims to broaden current knowledge of the underlying relationship between process and porosity in LBAM and provide new possibilities for efficient and accurate porosity prediction. We present a deep learning-based data fusion method to predict porosity in LBAM parts by leveraging the measured melt pool thermal history and two newly created deep learning neural networks. A PyroNet, based on Convolutional Neural Networks, is developed to correlate in-process pyrometry images with layer-wise porosity; an IRNet, based on Long-term Recurrent Convolutional Networks, is developed to correlate sequential thermal images from an infrared camera with layer-wise porosity. Predictions from PyroNet and IRNet are fused at the decision-level to obtain a more accurate prediction of layer-wise porosity. The model fidelity is validated with LBAM Ti–6Al–4V thin-wall structure. This is the first work that manages to fuse pyrometer data and infrared camera data for metal additive manufacturing (AM). The case study results based on benchmark datasets show that our method can achieve high accuracy with relatively high efficiency, demonstrating the applicability of the method for in situ porosity detection in LBAM.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1852215
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10217479
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering
- Volume:
- 143
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 1087-1357
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract The process uncertainty induced quality issue remains the major challenge that hinders the wider adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) technology. The defects occurred significantly compromise structural integrity and mechanical properties of fabricated parts. Therefore, there is an urgent need in fast, yet reliable AM component certification. Most finite element analysis related methods characterize defects based on the thermomechanical relationships, which are computationally inefficient and cannot capture process uncertainty. In addition, there is a growing trend in data-driven approaches on characterizing the empirical relationships between thermal history and anomaly occurrences, which focus on modeling an individual image basis to identify local defects. Despite their effectiveness in local anomaly detection, these methods are quite cumbersome when applied to layer-wise anomaly detection. This paper proposes a novel in situ layer-wise anomaly detection method by analyzing the layer-by-layer morphological dynamics of melt pools and heat affected zones (HAZs). Specifically, the thermal images are first preprocessed based on the g-code to assure unified orientation. Subsequently, the melt pool and HAZ are segmented, and the global and morphological transition metrics are developed to characterize the morphological dynamics. New layer-wise features are extracted, and supervised machine learning methods are applied for layer-wise anomaly detection. The proposed method is validated using the directed energy deposition (DED) process, which demonstrates superior performance comparing with the benchmark methods. The average computational time is significantly shorter than the average build time, enabling in situ layer-wise certification and real-time process control.more » « less
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null (Ed.)Despite its potential to overcome the design and processing barriers of traditional subtractive and formative manufacturing techniques, the use of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) metal additive manufacturing is currently limited due to its tendency to create flaws. A multitude of LPBF-related flaws, such as part-level deformation, cracking, and porosity are linked to the spatiotemporal temperature distribution in the part during the process. The temperature distribution, also called the thermal history, is a function of several factors encompassing material properties, part geometry and orientation, processing parameters, placement of supports, among others. These broad range of factors are difficult and expensive to optimize through empirical testing alone. Consequently, fast and accurate models to predict the thermal history are valuable for mitigating flaw formation in LPBF-processed parts. In our prior works, we developed a graph theory-based approach for predicting the temperature distribution in LPBF parts. This mesh-free approach was compared with both non-proprietary and commercial finite element packages, and the thermal history predictions were experimentally validated with in- situ infrared thermal imaging data. It was found that the graph theory-derived thermal history predictions converged within 30–50% of the time of non-proprietary finite element analysis for a similar level of prediction error. However, these prior efforts were based on small prismatic and cylinder-shaped LPBF parts. In this paper, our objective was to scale the graph theory approach to predict the thermal history of large volume, complex geometry LPBF parts. To realize this objective, we developed and applied three computational strategies to predict the thermal history of a stainless steel (SAE 316L) impeller having outside diameter 155 mm and vertical height 35 mm (700 layers). The impeller was processed on a Renishaw AM250 LPBF system and required 16 h to complete. During the process, in-situ layer-by-layer steady state surface temperature measurements for the impeller were obtained using a calibrated longwave infrared thermal camera. As an example of the outcome, on implementing one of the three strategies reported in this work, which did not reduce or simplify the part geometry, the thermal history of the impeller was predicted with approximate mean absolute error of 6% (standard deviation 0.8%) and root mean square error 23 K (standard deviation 3.7 K). Moreover, the thermal history was simulated within 40 min using desktop computing, which is considerably less than the 16 h required to build the impeller part. Furthermore, the graph theory thermal history predictions were compared with a proprietary LPBF thermal modeling software and non-proprietary finite element simulation. For a similar level of root mean square error (28 K), the graph theory approach converged in 17 min, vs. 4.5 h for non-proprietary finite element analysis.more » « less
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Abstract In additive manufacturing of metal parts, the ability to accurately predict the extremely variable temperature field in detail, and relate it quantitatively to structure and properties, is a key step in predicting part performance and optimizing process design. In this work, a finite element simulation of the directed energy deposition (DED) process is used to predict the space- and time-dependent temperature field during the multi-layer build process for Inconel 718 walls. The thermal model results show good agreement with dynamic infrared images captured in situ during the DED builds. The relationship between predicted cooling rate, microstructural features, and mechanical properties is examined, and cooling rate alone is found to be insufficient in giving quantitative property predictions. Because machine learning offers an efficient way to identify important features from series data, we apply a 1D convolutional neural network data-driven framework to automatically extract the dominant predictive features from simulated temperature history. Very good predictions of material properties, especially ultimate tensile strength, are obtained using simulated thermal history data. To further interpret the convolutional neural network predictions, we visualize the extracted features produced on each convolutional layer and compare the convolutional neural network detected features of thermal histories for high and low ultimate tensile strength cases. A key result is the determination that thermal histories in both high and moderate temperature regimes affect material properties.more » « less
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Design Rules and In-Situ Quality Monitoring of Thin-Wall Features Made Using Laser Powder Bed FusionThe goal of this work is to quantify the link between the design features (geometry), in-situ process sensor signatures, and build quality of parts made using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing (AM) process. This knowledge is critical for establishing design rules for AM parts, and to detecting impending build failures using in-process sensor data. As a step towards this goal, the objectives of this work are two-fold: Quantify the effect of the geometry and orientation on the build quality of thin-wall features. To explain further, the geometry-related factor is the ratio of the length of a thin-wall (l) to its thickness (t) defined as the aspect ratio (length-to-thickness ratio, l/t), and the angular orientation (θ) of the part, which is defined as the angle of the part in the X-Y plane relative to the re-coater blade of the LPBF machine. Assess the thin-wall build quality by analyzing images of the part obtained at each layer from an in-situ optical camera using a convolutional neural network. To realize these objectives, we designed a test part with a set of thin-wall features (fins) with varying aspect ratio from Titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) material — the aspect ratio l/t of the thin-walls ranges from 36 to 183 (11 mm long (constant), and 0.06 mm to 0.3 mm in thickness). These thin-wall test parts were built under three angular orientations of 0°, 60°, and 90°. Further, the parts were examined offline using X-ray computed tomography (XCT). Through the offline XCT data, the build quality of the thin-wall features in terms of their geometric integrity is quantified as a function of the aspect ratio and orientation angle, which suggests a set of design guidelines for building thin-wall structures with LPBF. To monitor the quality of the thin-wall, in-process images of the top surface of the powder bed were acquired at each layer during the build process. The optical images are correlated with the post build quantitative measurements of the thin-wall through a deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN). The statistical correlation (Pearson coefficient, ρ) between the offline XCT measured thin-wall quality, and CNN predicted measurement ranges from 80% to 98%. Consequently, the impending poor quality of a thin-wall is captured from in-situ process data.more » « less
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4048957
