MRI: Development of Multi-Material Printing and Multi-Modal Sensing Capabilities for Directed Energy Deposition

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the development of an open-architecture, high-throughput, and modular additive manufacturing instrument. This instrument is based on directed energy deposition to enable new research capabilities in revolutionary material design, large-scale data collection, and process artificial intelligence. The new capabilities will set this instrument apart, as the first of its kind. It will have a unique range of functionalities to address the current and future technical challenges in additive manufacturing. It will also serve as a unique tool to probe into the process design and physics of additive manufacturing. The project will enable undergraduate and graduate students to gain exposure to the growing multidisciplinary nature of advanced manufacturing and its adaption of big data concepts. By developing the capability for rigorous process monitoring, the instrument will enable the real-time study of the influence and consequences of processing methods on defects and ultimate part quality (at length scales that are orders of magnitude smaller than standard instruments today). The research will couple multi-material synthesis capabilities (multi-material printing) with high-precision sensors (acoustic emission sensing, hyperspectral imaging, and multi-wavelength pyrometry) and an in-process metrology vision system to enable closed-loop process modification and data collection. The envisioned hardware and software design will enable an instrument that is not only capable of detecting defects in real-time but can also make the necessary processing adjustments (may they be compositional or processing modifications) to correct these errors. This instrument will substantially outpace the current capabilities of commercial metal additive instruments, thus providing broad opportunities for multidisciplinary research and development of manufacturing processes, methods, and equipment. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.