Laser based additive manufacturing in industry and academia

Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing technique able to produce complex functional parts via successively melting layers of metal powder. This process grants the freedom to design highly complex scaffold components to allow bone ingrowth and aid mechanical anchorage. This paper investigates the compression fatigue behaviour of three different unit cells (octahedron, cellular gyroid and sheet gyroid) of SLM nitinol scaffolds. It was found that triply periodic minimal surfaces display superior static mechanical properties in comparison to conventional octahedron beam lattice structures at identical volume fractions. Fatigue resistance was also found to be highly geometry dependent due to the effects of AM processing techniques on the surface topography and notch sensitivity. Geometries minimising nodal points and the staircase effect displayed the greatest fatigue resistance when normalized to yield strength. Furthermore oxygen analysis showed a large oxygen uptake during SLM processing which must be altered to meet ASTM medical grade standards and may significantly reduce fatigue life. These achieved fatigue properties indicate that NiTi scaffolds produced via SLM can provide sufficient mechanical support over an implants lifetime within stress range values experienced in real life.

Fatigue behaviour of NiTi shape memory alloy scaffolds produced by SLM, a unit cell design comparison.

NiTi shape memory alloys (SMAs) have the best combination of properties among the different SMAs. However, the limitations of conventional manufacturing processes and the poor manufacturability of NiTi have critically limited its full potential applicability. Thus, additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, has the potential to be a solution in fabricating complex NiTi smart structures. Recently, a number of studies on Selective Laser Melting (SLM) of NiTi were conducted to explore the various aspects of SLM-produced NiTi. Compared to producing conventional metals through the SLM process, the fabrication of NiTi SMA is much more challenging. Not only do the produced parts require a high density that leads to good mechanical properties, strict composition control is needed as well for the SLM NiTi to possess suitable phase transformation characteristics. Additionally, obtaining a good shape memory effect from the SLM NiTi samples is another challenging task that requires further understanding. This paper presents the results of the effects of energy density and SLM process parameters on the properties of SLM NiTi. Its shape memory properties and potential applications were then reviewed and discussed.

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A Review of Selective Laser Melted NiTi Shape Memory Alloy.

Recent years have witnessed extensive investigations of additively manufactured NiTi alloys using laser-source techniques. This study reports a selective electron beam melting process to make Ni-rich NiTi parts using the plasma rotating electrode processed pre-alloyed NiTi powder. Microstructures of the as-printed NiTi samples were investigated, including micro-morphology, phase constituent and texture. Chemical compositions (primarily oxygen and nickel) and martensitic transformation temperatures were compared between the in house made NiTi powders and as-printed NiTi samples. X-ray diffraction results show that the as-printed samples exhibit a dominant austenitic B2 phase and a minor in situ formed Ni4Ti3 phase. The as-printed samples demonstrate a strong B2 (001) orientation texture along the building direction. Differential scanning calorimetry results show asymmetric phase transformations: a two-step of B2 → R → B19′ phase transformation during cooling but a one-step B19′ → B2 transformation during heating. Excellent superelasticity and large reversible strain have been observed. The as-printed NiTi samples achieve a fracture tensile stress of 1411.0 ± 59.3 MPa and an elongation of 11.8 ± 0.9%. The observed tension-compression asymmetry has been also discussed.

Selective electron beam melting of NiTi: Microstructure, phase transformation and mechanical properties

In this work, we show that selective laser melting (SLM), apart from producing complex structures, can also act as a metallurgical method to modify the Ni/Ti ratio of NiTi shape memory alloys, and thus providing a feasible approach to tailor the transformation temperatures and to modify the mechanical performance of NiTi alloys. NiTi samples were fabricated by SLM with a large variation of process parameters, e.g. scanning speed (v) from 400 to 1200 mm s−1, hatch spacing (h) from 40 to 110 μm, and laser power (P) from 60 to 200 W. It is found that the martensite transformation temperature changes monotonously with the respective change of v, h or P. The composition analysis suggests that the different amount of Ni-loss under various SLM process conditions is the main reason for the evolution of transformation temperatures. Most importantly, good mechanical (total elongation >10 %) and functional properties under tensile mode have been obtained despite of the large variation of SLM process parameters and the presence of extensive defects. The good tensile properties and tailorable phase transformation temperatures will provide great potential to make novel NiTi smart structures.

Effect of process parameters on the phase transformation behavior and tensile properties of NiTi shape memory alloys fabricated by selective laser melting

Selective laser melting has been applied as a production technique of nickel titanium (NiTi) parts. In this study, the scanning parameters and atmosphere control used during production were varied to assess the effects on the final component transformation criteria. Two production runs were completed: one in a high (~1800 ppm O2) and one in a low-oxygen (~220 ppm O2) environment. Further solution treatment was applied to analyze precipitation effects. It was found that the transformation temperature varies greatly even at identical energy densities highlighting the need for further in-depth investigations. In this respect, it was observed that oxidation was the dominating factor, increased with higher laser power adapted to higher scanning velocity. Once the atmospheric oxygen content was lowered from 1800 to about 220 ppm, a much smaller variation of transformation temperatures was obtained. In addition to oxidation, other contributing factors, such as nickel depletion (via evaporation during processing) as well as thermal stresses and textures, are further discussed and/or postulated. These results demonstrated the importance of processing and material conditions such as O2 content, powder composition, and laser scanning parameters. These parameters should be precisely controlled to reach desired transformation criteria for functional components made by SLM.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs40830-016-0083-y.pdf

On the Transformation Behavior of NiTi Shape-Memory Alloy Produced by SLM

In recent trends, the Architecture Analysis and Design Language (AADL) has received increasing attention from safety-critical software development industries. Specific about the AADL is its strong syntactic and semantic support for the description of both hardware and software architectures. Considering the existing range of software architectures, we study the support AADL offers for the description of software architecture. As a case study we use an implementation of a UDP/IP protocol stack. Based on our experiences, our position is that a number of abstract concepts, e.g. a generic component concept, are missing in the AADL to make it well-suited for the high- level description of software architecture.

Using AADL to Model a Protocol Stack


 While Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) serve as a fundamental positioning technology for autonomous ships in Inland Waterways (IWW), in order to compensate for unexpected signal outages from constellations due to structures such as bridges and high buildings, it is not uncommon to use a sensor fusion setup with GNSS and Inertial Measurement Units (IMU)/Inertial Navigation Systems (INS). However, the accuracy of this fusion relies on the accuracy of the main localization technology itself. In Europe, Galileo and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) are two satellite navigation systems under civil control and they provide European users with independent access to a reliable positioning satellite signal, claiming better accuracy than what is offered by other accessible systems. Therefore, considering the potential utilization of these systems for autonomous navigation, in this paper, we discuss the results of a case study for benchmarking the accuracy of Galileo and EGNOS in IWW. We used a Coordinate Measurement Machine (CMM) and a sub-cm Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) service which is available in Flanders to quantify the benchmark reference. The results with and without sensor fusion show that Galileo has a better horizontal accuracy profile than standalone Global Positioning System (GPS), and its augmentation with EGNOS is likely to provide European IWW users more accurate positioning levels in the future.


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Accuracy Benchmark of Galileo and EGNOS for Inland Waterways

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/1357/1/012016/pdf

Design and build of a scale model unmanned inland cargo vessel: actuation and control architecture

Automated surface vessels must integrate many tasks and motions at the same time. Moreover, vessels as well as monitoring and control services need to react to physical disturbances, to dynamically allocate software resources available within a particular environment, and to communicate with various other actors in particular navigation and traffic situations. In this work, the responsibility for the situational awareness is given to a mediator that decides how: 1) to assess the impact of the actual physical environment on the quality and performance of the ongoing task executions; 2) to make sure these tasks satisfy the system requirements; and 3) to be robust against disturbances. This paper proposes a set of semantic world models within the context of inland waterway transport, and discusses policies and methodologies to compose, use, and connect these models. Model-conform entities and relations are composed dynamically, that is, corresponding to the opportunities and challenges offered by the actual situation. The semantic world models discussed in this work are divided into two main categories: 1) the semantic description of a vessel’s own properties and relationships, called the internal world model, or body model, and 2) the semantic description of its local environment, called the external world model, or map. A range of experiments illustrate the potential of using such models to decide the reactions of the application at runtime. Furthermore, three dynamic, context-dependent, ship domains are integrated in the map as two-dimensional geometric entities around a moving vessel to increase the situational awareness of automated vessels. Their geometric representations depend on the associated relations; for example, with: 1) the motion of the vessel, 2) the actual, desired, or hypothesised tasks, 3) perception sensor information, and 4) other geometries, e.g., features from the Inland Electronic Navigational Charts. The ability to unambiguously understand the environmental context, as well as the motion or position of surrounding entities, allows for resource-efficient and straightforward control decisions. The semantic world models facilitate knowledge sharing between actors, and significantly enhance explainability of the actors’ behaviour and control decisions.

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S. Van Baelen

Papers

On the Transformation Behavior of NiTi Shape-Memory Alloy Produced by SLM

Using AADL to Model a Protocol Stack

Accuracy Benchmark of Galileo and EGNOS for Inland Waterways

Design and build of a scale model unmanned inland cargo vessel: actuation and control architecture

Dynamic Semantic World Models and Increased Situational Awareness for Highly Automated Inland Waterway Transport