SBIR-STTR Award

The In Process Control for L-PBF (IPCL) program leverages and in process inspection method recently developed and successfully demonstrated for NASA. This Layer Topographic Map or LTM method measures the surface if every melt layer using a commercial laser profilometer. LTM software detects, locates and identifies flawed regions within a layer for every layer in the part. It does so for several common flaw types common with powder bed processes. We will use LTM to find unfused or poorly fused powder and develop specific methods to repair these flaws by reapplying laser energy to re-melt the materiali.e. perform in process control (IPC). In a second series of trials we will demonstrate IPC where we couple LTM in process inspection to find and measure layer flaws, determine the proper repair procedure, and perform the repair/rework. Quality of the repaired flaws are determined from CT scans. Flightware has teamed once again with EWI, a large nonprofit R&D organization with equipment, staff and expertise in metal AdditiveManufacturing. Our team provides added value to DLA by combining in process inspection with in process control in Phase I, accelerating potential commercialization and insertion in the DLA supply chain.

The In-Process Control for L-PBF (IPCL) Phase II program extends very successful Phase I results. We demonstrated that our LTM software correctly detected layer flaws with 98% to 99% accuracy. We also demonstrated that 1-layer and 3-layer flaws could be successfully repaired or healed using two different Repair processes we developed, with more than 80% reduction in porosity. In Phase II we will extend this work significantly, generating ~10X the number of coupons and scans. We will analyze a number of different ways to extend LTM application for in-process inspection of several other flaws, features and repairs. We’ve teamed with UTC and EWI, two highly regarded organizations in metal AM development. EWI will develop an advanced profilometer to scan the entire print bed at very high rates and resolution. This device will be installed in UTC’s OPENSLM commercial printer, where all coupon and part fabrication shall be performed. At the conclusion of the program we anticipate this technology will be made available to the market through UTC’s commercial AMSENSE and OPENSLM products. This team provides best value to DLA by combining the strength of our organizations in sensors, printers and software and accelerating commercialization and insertion into DLA’s supply chain.