Rapid Identification of Effects of Defects within Metal Additive Manufacturing (RIED-AM)

Additive manufacturing (AM) bring revolutionary capabilities and is very attractive to various commercial and military applications. However, metal AM often results in components with various defects, which may have decisive impact on their mechanical properties. To address this critical concern of AM quality, in this research, Intelligent Automation, Inc (IAI) will develop and implement a material qualification system for rapid identification of effect of defects in AM. An empirical database of defects and effects on mechanical properties will be developed based on precise experimental analysis and high-fidelity simulations. Adaptive Design of Experiments (DOE) will be utilized to minimize the number of simulations and experiments and provide uncertainty estimates over the results. This system also applies Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy as a rapid nondestructive inspection (NDI) tool to filter inadmissible defects. Phase II will focus on developing the comprehensive database, software and hardware integration, and system level component testing. It is envisioned that this system will provide great convenience for the quality control (QC) process of AM parts.