Are additive manufacturing systems accurately delivering laser power?

Published

September 12, 2022

Author(s)

Brian Simonds, Kyle Rogers, Paul A. Williams

Abstract

At the core of most metal additive manufacturing (AM) systems is a high-power (100-1000 W) laser. The delivered light energy drives the entire AM process by determining the melt volume and maximum temperature, which ultimately dictates solidification and microstructure behaviors. Therefore, accurate laser power measurement and delivery is critical to part quality. To this end, the National Institute of Standards and Technology is undertaking an anonymized, "round-robin" assessment of laser power delivery in U.S. AM systems in "real-world" manufacturing conditions. We use a low-uncertainty power meter (1.3%) to compare actual laser power with both the requested output and the operator's own measurements. We have found that the calibration frequency of the power meter and laser, as well as operator proficiency, greatly influences accuracy. Ultimately though, the limited uncertainty of commercial meters, up to 5%, presents a challenge for developing narrow process windows necessary for difficult-to-manufacture alloys found in medical and aerospace applications.

Proceedings Title

N/A

Conference Dates

September 4-8, 2022

Conference Location

Fuerth, DE

Conference Title

12th CIRP Conference on Photonic Technologies (LANE 2022)

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

Additive manufacturing, Radiometry, Laser power

Citation

Simonds, B. , Rogers, K. and Williams, P. (2022), Are additive manufacturing systems accurately delivering laser power?, N/A, Fuerth, DE, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=934582 (Accessed March 19, 2025)