Abstract Scope |
Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is a “layer-by-layer” additive manufacturing process, in which parts are built up by adding precursor powder layers and selectively scanning them with a high-power laser, resulting in the densification of consecutive slices of a three-dimensional object. During L-PBF, heating and cooling rates up to 10 million degrees per second have been reported, leading to far-from-equilibrium microstructures, high residual stresses and various defects that are detrimental to the thermo-mechanical reliability of the printed components.
To study these issues, we have developed a dedicated miniaturized L-PBF device optimized for installation at synchrotron X-ray diffraction and imaging beamlines. In combination with fast X-ray detectors, this setup allows tracking the evolution of crystallographic phases, local temperature, cracks, pores, etc. during 3D laser printing. In this presentation, I will demonstrate how this device was used to study the microstructure evolution in various metallic systems with time resolutions down to 25µs. |