A multi-technique tomography-based approach for non-invasive characterization of additive manufacturing components in view of vacuum/UHV applications: preliminary results

Abstract

In this paper, we have studied an additively manufactured metallic component, intended for ultra-high vacuum application, the exit-snout of the MACHINA transportable proton accelerator beam-line. Metal additive manufacturing components can exhibit heterogeneous and anisotropic microstructures. Two non-destructive imaging techniques, X-ray computed tomography and Neutron Tomography, were employed to examine its microstructure. They unveiled the presence of porosity and channels, the size and composition of grains and intergranular precipitates, and the general behavior of the spatial distribution of the solidification lines. While X-ray computed tomography evidenced qualitative details about the surface roughness and internal defects, neutron tomography showed excellent ability in imaging the spatial density distribution within the component. The anisotropy of the density was attributed to the material building orientation during the 3D printing process. Density variations suggest the possibility of defect pathways, which could affect high vacuum performances. In addition, these results highlight the importance of considering building orientation in the design for additive manufacturing for UHV applications. Graphical Abstract

MACHINA, the Movable Accelerator for Cultural Heritage In-situ Non-destructive Analysis: project overview

“…For the extraction of the ions into the atmosphere and for counting the X-rays produced by the beam in the extraction window (see below), a snout, whose features are shown in Fig. 4, has been designed and constructed using metallic additive manufacturing (3D print) (Grazzi et al 2021).…”

Evaluation of green laser source additive manufacturing technology for accelerator applications with ultra-high vacuum requirements

“…The literature survey shows that AM usage within UHV applications has been investigated in several publications. In [1,2] UHV applications were considered and LPBF manufacturing technology was used, but direct UHV characterisation like vacuum tests was not investigated. On the other hand, in literature [3][4][5][6] not only LPBF was used, but also vacuum tightness was positively tested against UHV requirements.…”

A Geometric Feature-Based Algorithm for the Virtual Reading of Closed Historical Manuscripts

“…For these reasons, X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) is emerging as a new approach for digitization. X-ray CT is a well-established methodology for medicine [1,2], industrial applications [3], and, in recent decades, Cultural Heritage studies [4][5][6][7][8][9]. Thanks to the penetration power and the non-invasive nature of X-rays, CT enables the complete imaging of precious objects.…”