System and method for monitoring and controlling build quality during electron beam manufacturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11413698-B2
Application number	US-201815919771-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2018
Priority date	Mar 13, 2018
Publication date	Aug 16, 2022
Grant date	Aug 16, 2022

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring and controlling build quality during electron beam manufacturing of a build part. The system may include at least one electron beam source to direct at least one electron beam onto a plurality of deposited layers of metallic powder to form a melt pool, a detector to detect in real-time backscattered energy ejected from the melt pool and indicative of a defect in the build part and generate a detection signal representative of the defect. A controller receives and analyzes the detection signal and generates a corrective signal for control of at least one of the actuator and the at least one electron beam source to direct the at least one electron beam onto the plurality of deposited layers of metallic powder to sequentially consolidate patterned portions of the plurality of deposited metallic powder layers to adaptively form the three-dimensional build part.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for monitoring and controlling build quality during electron beam manufacturing of a three-dimensional build part, the system comprising:
a build chamber comprising:
a housing;
a build platform disposed in the build chamber; and
an actuator for moving the build platform in the build chamber;

at least one electron beam source for directing at least one electron beam into the build chamber and onto a layer of metallic powder disposed on the build platform to form a melt pool;
an energy sensitive photon-counting detector that includes one or more of energy and wavelength dispersive components, the energy sensitive photon-counting detector configured to detect in real-time backscattered energy ejected from the melt pool being exposed to the at least one electron beam to detect one or more defects in the melt pool, the backscattered energy being one or more of backscattered electrons, secondary electrons, Auger electrons, backscattered photons, and radiation ejected from the melt pool and generate a detection signal representative of the defect, wherein the one or more defects in the melt pool is indicative of a defect in at least one of a density and a chemistry of the three-dimensional build part; and
a controller configured to receive and analyze the detection signal and generate a corrective signal for control of at least one of the actuator and the at least one electron beam source to direct the at least one electron beam onto the layer of metallic powder on the build platform to sequentially consolidate patterned portions of the layer of metallic powder to adaptively form the three-dimensional build part;
wherein each the actuator and the at least one electron beam source is configured for adjustment by the controller based on the corrective signal, and the adjustment by the controller affects at least one of a consolidation rate and a melt pool size.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the energy sensitive photon-counting detector is configured to provide real-time in-situ detection of one or more of the density and the chemistry of the three-dimensional build part.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the backscattered energy is one or more of backscattered electrons, secondary electrons, Auger electrons, backscattered photons and radiation ejected from at least one of the layer of metallic powder and the melt pool.

4. The system of claim 1 , comprising a plurality of electron beam sources for directing a plurality of electron beams into the build chamber and onto the layer of metallic powder disposed on the build platform to form the melt pool.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein at least one of the plurality of electron beams is a dedicated build-analysis beam.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the energy sensitive photon-counting detector is a retrofit detector, retrofitted to an existing port in the build chamber.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the three-dimensional build part comprises one of a turbine component and a turbine component repair.

8. A system for adaptively forming a three-dimensional build part from a plurality of deposited layers of metallic powder, said system comprising:
a build chamber comprising:
a housing;
a build platform disposed in the build chamber; and
an actuator for moving the build platform in the build chamber;

at least one electron beam source for directing at least one electron beam into the build chamber and onto the plurality of deposited layers of metallic powder disposed on the build platform to form a melt pool;
an energy sensitive photon-counting detector that includes one or more of energy and wavelength dispersive components, the energy sensitive photon-counting detector configured to detect in real-time backscattered energy ejected from the melt pool being exposed to the at least one electron beam to detect a defect in the melt pool, the backscattered energy being one or more of backscattered electrons, secondary electrons, Auger electrons, backscattered photons, and radiation ejected from the melt pool and the defect indicative of a defect in at least one of a density and a chemistry of the three-dimensional build part, the energy sensitive photon-counting detector configured to generate a detection signal representative of the defect;
a processor configured to receive and analyze the detection signal and generate a corrective signal; and
a controller configured to receive the corrective signal and provide control of at least one of the actuator and the at least one electron beam source to direct the at least one electron beam onto the plurality of deposited layers of metallic powder on the build platform to sequentially consolidate patterned portions of the plurality of deposited layers of metallic powder to adaptively form the three-dimensional build part;
wherein each the actuator and the at least one electron beam source is configured for adjustment by the controller based on the corrective signal, and the adjustment by the controller affects at least one of a consolidation rate and a melt pool size.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the backscattered energy is one or more of backscattered electrons, secondary electrons, Auger electrons, backscattered photons and radiation ejected from at least one of the melt pool and underlying powder layer.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the energy sensitive photon-counting detector includes one or more energy and wavelength dispersive X-ray analyzers.

11. The system of claim 8 , further comprising a dedicated build-analysis beam.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the energy sensitive photon-counting detector is a retrofit detector, retrofitted to an existing port in the build chamber.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein said at least one electron beam source is fixed relative to the plurality of deposited layers of metallic powder, and said controller is operable to independently direct the at least one electron beam source onto the plurality of deposited layers of metallic powder.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein said controller is operable to optimize a rate of consolidating the patterned portions of the plurality of deposited layers of metallic powder to form the three-dimensional build part having a single crystal structure in response to the corrective signal.

15. A method for monitoring and controlling build quality during electron beam manufacturing of a three-dimensional build part, the method comprising:
(a) providing at least one electron beam source;
(b) controlling the at least one electron beam source to direct an at least one electron beam onto a deposited layer of metallic powder to form a melt pool;
(c) detecting backscattered energy from the melt pool with an energy sensitive photon-counting detector in real-time to determine a presence of a defect in the melt pool, wherein the defect is indicative of a defect in at least one of a density and a chemistry of the three-dimensional build part, wherein the energy sensitive photon-counting detector includes one or more of energy and wavelength dispersive components;
(d) controlling at least one of the electron beam source and an actuator to adjust the at least one electron beam and a build plate in response to the determined presence of the defect in the melt pool and consolidate patterned portions of the deposited layer of metallic powder, wherein each the actuator and the at least one electron beam source is configured for adjustment based on the defect in the melt pool, and the adjustment affects at least one of a consolidation rate and a melt pool size; and
(e) repeating (a)-(d) to form the three-dimensi

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Lobastov Vladimir Anatolievich
• Smentkowski Vincent Scott
• Price John Scott
• Robinson Vance Scott

Classifications

• B22F12/90

  Means for process control, e.g. cameras or sensors · CPC title

• B22F12/55

  Two or more means for feeding material · CPC title

• B22F12/49

  Scanners · CPC title

• B22F10/38

  to achieve specific product aspects, e.g. surface smoothness, density, porosity or hollow structures · CPC title

• B22F10/36

  of energy beam parameters · CPC title