Additive Manufacturing Sensor Fusion Technologies for Process Monitoring and Control.

Universal Technology Corporation (UTC) has teamed with the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI), Stratonics, and Macy Consulting to demonstrate not only the transitionability into commercial systems, but also to develop the data analytics and monitoring and control requirements to extract the full value fromseveral sensors, including the Stratonics ThermaViz, acoustic and profilometry sensors acquired by UDRI, and a low-cost sensor fusion system, AMSENSE, developed and sold by UTC.This project will judge the efficacy of each sensor for in-process monitoring and control of Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF), and then decide which sensors should be combined into a new sensor fusion system that will finally enable qualified AM processes to exist en masse within the DoD supply chain.These decisions will be based on correlations between sensor data and final build results measured on physical test specimens.At the end of this project the research team will identify what future work is needed to implement the new sensor fusion system on DoD LPBF systems for real-time process control.