Method for non-destructive testing of regions of interest of a metal piece during additive manufacturing

A method of monitoring metal pieces produced by an additive manufacturing system comprising a build platform a material dispensing mechanism to dispense metallic powder on the build platform, a sensor supporting structure configured to move across the build platform and a build volume, wherein N or M NDT sensors are mounted on the supporting structure next to each other along an axis (X-axis) substantially perpendicular to the direction of the displacement (Y-axis) of the sensor supporting structure, the method comprising the steps of:

• generating, on a computing device, a 3D digital model of the build volume and a 3D digital model, in the build volume, of at least one metal piece (100) to be produced by the additive manufacturing system;
• selecting empty regions in the build volume, wherein each empty region has a volume larger than 10×10×10 mm3, and
• generating 3D digital models of control geometries in the empty regions;
• N NDT sensors being configured to be either:
• selectively activated among a total of M NDT sensors, or
• mounted on the sensor supporting structure at specific locations along said axis (X-axis),
• as a function of the position of said 3D digital models of control geometries in the corresponding empty regions of the 3D digital model of the build volume and as a function of the position on the build platform where said control geometries are to be manufactured
• in order to retrieve data on the properties of the quality of metal parts of said control geometries during their additive manufacturing without directly sensing the at least one metal piece during its additive manufacturing.

A method of monitoring metal pieces produced by an additive manufacturing system comprising a build platform, a material dispensing mechanism to dispense metallic powder on the build platform, a sensor supporting structure configured to move across the build platform, and a build volume, wherein N or M NDT sensors are mounted on the supporting structure next to each other along an axis (X-axis) substantially perpendicular to the direction of the displacement (Y-axis) of the sensor supporting structure, the method comprising the steps of:

• generating, on a computing device, a 3D digital model of the build volume comprising at least one metal piece to be produced by the additive manufacturing system and one or more support structures supporting one or more parts of said at least one metal piece, and
• including in at least one support structure at least one control geometry;
• N NDT sensors being configured to be either:
• selectively activated among a total of M NDT sensors, or
• mounted on the sensor supporting structure at specific locations along said axis (X-axis),
• wherein said N NDT sensors are selectively activated or mounted on said specific locations as a function of the location of the control geometries in one or more of said support structures in the 3D digital model of the build volume in order to retrieve data on the properties of the quality of the control geometries included in at least one support structure during its manufacturing.

A method of monitoring metal pieces produced by an additive manufacturing system comprising a build platform, a material dispensing mechanism to dispense metallic powder on the build platform, a sensor supporting structure configured to move across the build platform, and a build volume, wherein NDT sensors, are mounted on the supporting structure along an axis (X-axis) substantially perpendicular to the direction of the displacement of the sensor supporting structure (Y-axis), the method comprising the steps of:

• generating, on a computing device, a 3D digital model of the build volume comprising at least one metal piece to be produced by the additive manufacturing system,
• identifying regions of interest in the 3D digital model of the at least one metal piece where defects are more likely to occur during the additive manufacturing of said at least one metal piece, wherein said regions of interest are identified using a software configured to check said 3D digital model according to some specific design rules, and
• modifying in the 3D digital model of the build volume the position and/or orientation of the 3D digital model of the at least one metal piece so as to maximize the number of regions of interest that are located on an axis parallel to the X-axis of the sensor supporting structure before starting the additive manufacturing of said at least one metal piece;
• wherein N NDT sensors are configured to be either:
• selectively activated among a total of M NDT sensors,
• mounted on the sensor supporting structure at specific locations along said axis (X-axis),
• in order to retrieve data of the properties on the quality of metal parts for an optimized number of corresponding regions of interest of the metal piece during its additive manufacturing.