NDE of additively manufactured components with embedded defects (reference standards) using conventional and advanced ultrasonic methods

Abstract

Additive manufacturing provides a unique opportunity to embed defects of known size and shape to produce reference samples for inspection and quality control purposes. This work shows defect detectability studies on cylindrical additively manufactured cobalt-chromium alloy specimens with defects of known sizes and distributions. The specimens were investigated with immersion, synthetic aperture focusing (SAFT), phased array, and nonlinear ultrasonic techniques. Detectability, signal to noise ratios, and comparison of results between the methods will be presented. Acknowledgement:

NDE in-process for metal parts fabricated using powder based additive manufacturing

“…The inspection and characterization of powder metal parts at various points in the manufacturing process has been under consideration for several decades, with much of the attention focusing on non-destructive testing (NDT) of finished or near-finished parts 1,2 . Over the years some methods have been demonstrated for application at interim fabrication steps and at other interim points during manufacture [3][4][5] . Critical to understanding NDT needs is material characterization and "allowables" (those "naturally" occurring material anomalies that are acceptable), such as some level of micro-porosity and grain variation that will not impact performance under some defined set of stressors 6 .…”