Online Process Monitoring for Additive Manufacturing Using Eddy Current Testing With Magnetoresistive Sensor Arrays

The rising popularity of additive manufacturing processes leads to an increased interest in possibilities and methods for related process monitoring. Such methods ensure improved process quality and increase the understanding of the manufacturing process, which in turn is the basis for stable component quality, e.g., required in the aerospace industry or in the medical sector. For laser powder bed fusion, a handful of process monitoring tools already exist, such as optical tomography, thermography, pyrometry, imaging, or laser power monitoring. Although these tools provide helpful information about the process, more information is required for an accurate in-depth understanding. In this article, advanced approaches in eddy current testing (ET) are combined, such as single wire excitation, magnetoresistive (MR) sensor arrays, and heterodyning to build up a system that can be used for online process monitoring of laser powder bed fusion. In addition to detailed information about the developed ET system and underlying signal processing, the first results of magnetoresistance-based online ET during the laser powder fusion process are presented. While producing a step-shaped cuboid, each layer is tested during recoating. Test results show that not only the contours of the topmost layer are detected but also the contours of previous layers covered by powder. At an excitation frequency of 1 MHz, a penetration depth of approx.
$400~\mu \text{m}$
is obtained. To highlight the possibilities of ET for online process monitoring of laser powder bed fusion, results are compared with postexposure images of the integrated layer control system (LCS).