Additive manufacturing (AM) requires a new paradigm for quality assurance testing. A nondestructive test setup has been integrated into an AM chamber. A pulsed laser generates Rayleigh waves that are then received by a laser interferometer. Two levels of interrogation are investigated; detection of defects using linear ultrasonic methods and tracking changes in microstructure using nonlinear ultrasonic methods. One of the challenges in AM chambers is surface roughness, which affects both light collection for reception as well as the Rayleigh wave propagation characteristics. This paper describes the laser ultrasonic system, its integration into an AM chamber, and some sample results.
Additive manufacturing of metal components through directed energy deposition or powder bed fusion is a complex undertaking, often involving hundreds or thousands of individual laser deposits. During processing, conditions may fluctuate, e.g. material feed rate, beam power, surrounding gas composition, local and global temperature, build geometry, etc., leading to unintended variations in final part geometry, microstructure and properties. To assess or control as-deposited quality, researchers have used a variety of methods, including those based on sensing of melt pool and plume emission characteristics, characteristics of powder application, and layer-wise imaging.
Here, a summary of ongoing process monitoring activities at Penn State is provided, along with a discussion of recent advancements in the area of layer-wise image acquisition and analysis during powder bed fusion processing. Specifically, methods that enable direct comparisons of CAD model, build images, and 3D micro-tomographic scan data will be covered, along with thoughts on how such analyses can be related to overall process quality.
KEYWORDS: Additive manufacturing, Metals, Control systems, Image processing, Sensors, Cameras, Laser systems engineering, 3D modeling, Infrared cameras, Process control
Purpose – Powder bed fusion additive manufacturing (PBFAM) of metal components has attracted much attention, but the inability to quickly and easily ensure quality has limited its industrial use. Since the technology is currently being investigated for critical engineered components and is largely considered unsuitable for high volume production, traditional statistical quality control methods cannot be readily applied. An alternative strategy for quality control is to monitor the build in real time with a variety of sensing methods and, when possible, to correct any defects as they occur. This article reviews the cause of common defects in powder bed additive manufacturing, briefly surveys process monitoring strategies in the literature, and summarizes recently-developed strategies to monitor part quality during the build process.
Design/methodology/approach – Factors that affect part quality in powder bed additive manufacturing are categorized as those influenced by machine variables and those affected by other build attributes. Within each category, multiple process monitoring methods are presented.
Findings – A multitude of factors contribute to the overall quality of a part built using PBFAM. Rather than limiting processing to a pre-defined build recipe and assuming complete repeatability, part quality will be ensured by monitoring the process as it occurs and, when possible, altering the process conditions or build plan in real-time. Recent work shows promise in this area and brings us closer to the goal of wide-spread adoption of additive manufacturing technology.
Originality/value - This work serves to introduce and define the possible sources of defects and errors in metal-based PBFAM, and surveys sensing and control methods which have recently been investigated to increase overall part quality. Emphasis has been placed on novel developments in the field and their contribution to the understanding of the additive manufacturing process.
Laser processing is a single step, attractive alternative to current multi-step formation of ohmic contacts between an aluminum metallization layer and a silicon substrate in solar cell devices. However, small changes in laser parameters such as pulse duration, power density and laser wavelength can result in significant differences in the contact geometry and electrical properties. Here, the effects of power density and pulse duration on the morphology, resistance and surface concentration of laser fired contacts (LFCs) are examined experimentally. The minimum fluence threshold for forming a contact with measureable resistance through the 100nm SiO2 layer is determined to be 8 J/cm2. In addition, when forming the contact, an outer rim region accumulates on the surface that is comprised of aluminum and silicon. As a result, the entire contact is actually governed by the size of an inner crater region plus this outer rim material, which is in contrast to results reported in the literature for nanosecond pulse durations. These results are in good agreement with independent results reported in the literature for LFCs processed on wafers with substantially different base resistivity and using significantly different processing parameters.
Use of selective emitters is an important step in increasing the efficiency of commercial crystalline Si solar cells, but
costs must be kept under control. Laser doping allows selective doping of precisely defined regions without the need for
process- and labor-intensive photolithography steps while maintaining or improving cell quality. Laser processing
parameters must be investigated to optimize doping and minimize defect generation and contact resistance to realize
optimal photovoltaic performance. Lasers are available in a wide range of wavelengths, pulse durations, fluences, and
energy distributions. Processing parameters must be selected with both performance and industrial feasibility in mind.
The use of selective emitters in p-n junction solar cells is a well-known way to increase cell efficiency by 0.4 - 0.5%
(absolute) with the addition of a few processing steps. In a selective emitter, the region directly below the metal-contact fingers is more heavily doped than the shallow p-n junction. This allows for enhanced carrier collection by shielding minority carriers from the contacts, thereby lowering recombination at the metal-semiconductor interface. In contrast to earlier expensive techniques involving fine-line lithography, laser processing provides an ideal way to create these selective emitters because of its ability to locally heat and dope the surface of the cell without any external patterning steps. In this study, Q-switched lasers of wavelengths 1064, 532, and 355 nm are used at a range of pulse energies to create selective emitters on a p-type FZ silicon wafer with a thin n+ dopant film deposited on the top surface of the wafer. In addition to the Q-switched lasers, a 1070 nm continuous wave laser is also used and both the pulse energy and pulse duration are varied. To determine the effect of the n+ dopant film, the thickness of the film is also varied and processed with all of the lasers. The results from these lasers and the different dopant layers are characterized electrically through current-voltage measurements and compared to determine the optimal processing wavelength and energy for the selective emitters which maximize diode performance while minimizing crystal lattice damage and series resistance.
Laser fired contacts (LFCs) and laser doped selective emitters can be used to improve manufacturing throughput of
photovoltaic devices without sacrificing device conversion efficiency. However, the laser parameters used to form these
features can vary significantly. LFCs can be formed with short pulses (hundreds of nanoseconds) while selective
emitters can be formed using either a pulsed or CW mode. Here, mathematical models for a pulsed laser and CW laser
are used to evaluate how variations in processing parameters affects alloy formation, molten pool geometry and dopant concentration profiles. The models solve the conservation equations for mass, energy, and momentum to study the effects of heat and mass transfer and fluid flow on the formation of LFCs and emitters. Comparisons between experimental data and theoretical calculations for molten pool geometry and concentration profiles demonstrate good agreement. For LFCs, when assuming complete melting and mixing of the Al contact layer, the Al concentration varies significantly with power level, which drastically impacts the calculated pool shape. The dimensionless Peclet number is used to understand dominant heat and mass transfer mechanisms. Conduction is the dominant heat transfer mechanism at power levels around 20W for both LFCs and emitters. As the power level is increased to 50W, however, the dominant heat transfer mechanism changes to convection. Changes in laser parameters also impact fluid flow velocities and dopant concentration profile for emitters processed in CW mode, which suggests that convection-based models should be used to accurately predict concentration profiles within emitters.
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