Additive Manufacturing Acoustic Sensor (AMAS) is a state of the art quality monitoring system to help detect subsurface level manufacturing errors in 3D-metal printed objects. It would help detect errors in real time, saving the manufacturer time and money. The sensor uses Acoustic Emissions signals processed through highly sophisticated machine learning algorithms to fish out any microscopic manufacturing flaws.

Impact

Such high levels of precision is required to build critical parts like structural airframe elements, components of the jet engines, propulsion system sub-assemblies, jet engine fuel nozzles with integrated channels and linings of combustion chambers to name a few. And current quality monitoring techniques are limited to infrared cameras and high-speed imaging that only capture surface information, leaving the phenomena occurring in the subsurface layers “un-tracked”. We believe that AMAS would play a crucial role in making existing additive manufacturing operations move effectively, leading to increased adoption of additive manufacturing technology.

High level overview of additive manufacturing

Metal additive manufacturing (metal AM), or metal 3D printing, has the potential to profoundly change the production, time-to-market, and simplicity of components and assemblies. Unlike conventional or subtractive manufacturing processes, such as drilling, which creates a part by removing material, additive manufacturing builds a part using a layer-by-layer process directly from a digital model, without the use of molds or dies that add time, waste material, and expense to the manufacturing process. Additive manufacturing has been used as a design and prototyping tool for decades, but the focus of additive manufacturing is now shifting to the direct production of components, such as medical implants and aircraft engine parts. Whether as a replacement for existing production methods on economic grounds, or because of the ability to produce components that have up until now been impossible, it is clear that AM will certainly have an impact on the future of manufacturing.

The growth in the Additive Manufacturing industry is predicted by many to be rapid and substantial, as more companies develop production equipment, more materials become available and more end-user industries adopt the technology.