| Abstract Scope |
Metal additive manufacturing (AM) is a transformative technology, which not only unleashes the design freedom by allowing the build of geometrically complex parts, but also opens up the opportunities for synthesizing novel materials with non-equilibrium structures and fabricating functionally graded architectures. AM holds the promise for completely revolutionizing the way we make thing, but building defect-free products with precisely controlled microstructures remains challenging. At the Advanced Photon Source, we recently applied high-speed x-ray imaging and diffraction techniques to in situ characterize the metal AM processes and materials. The superior penetration power of high-energy x-rays makes it possible to look into dense metallic materials and watch their dynamic structural evolution during energy-matter interaction with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions. In the presentation, I will introduce the new understanding gained from our synchrotron x-ray experiments, as well as their broad impact on the development of AM materials, processes, and numerical models. |