Additive Manufacturing Process Monitoring and Control Technologies

The DLA requires a set of procedures for acceptance of repairs and replacement parts made with additive manufacturing (AM). A critical component of that acceptance procedure will be tools for monitoring and control of AM processes. Vibrant Corporation provides process monitoring and control and nondestructive evaluation (NDE) services based on its Process Compensated Resonance Testing (PCRT) technology. Vibrant proposes to develop an integrated approach to AM process monitoring centered on PCRT and X-ray diffraction (XRD), with other sensors included to provide build process data. During the Phase I project, Vibrant will identify complementary sensors and develop a plan for an integrated multi-sensor approach. Vibrant will also conduct technology demonstrations highlighting PCRT and XRD capabilities for AM process monitoring. The technology demonstrations will show the correlations of AM process variations to PCRT and XRD results. Vibrants PCRT services perform process monitoring and control and NDE for many manufacturing processes, including AM, for a wide range of commercial customers. Vibrant will use that experience to develop its integrated approach and implement it within the DoD and commercial markets.