Recent Advances in the Application of Thermography to Additive Manufacturing: From Process Monitoring to Mechanical Characterisation
摘要
Infrared thermography is a full field non-destructive technique that has demonstrated its versatility in recent years in different applications ranging from process monitoring, non-destructive evaluation, to stress analysis and mechanical characterisation via rapid fatigue testing. All these applications make infrared thermography the ideal technique to deal with new and complex materials such as those obtained by additive manufacturing (AM). Additive manufacturing (AM) is a promising technique for manufacturing of complex-shaped materials and components. While AM is approaching technological maturity in terms of the production process, it still has significant shortcomings in terms of product quality. These shortcomings necessitate rigorous process control operations and comprehensive studies on the mechanical characterisation of materials and components, particularly with regard to fatigue. Furthermore, one of the most pressing issues is the need for damage-tolerant design. This can only be achieved through the utilisation of non-destructive testing, which serves to characterise defects in the material. The shape and geometry/size of the defects provide fundamental insight into the material’s behaviour under dynamic loads. In light of the aforementioned motivations, this book chapter presents thermographic techniques for process control, non-destructive testing and rapid fatigue characterisation of metallic materials obtained by additive manufacturing processes. The aim is to provide an overview of the development of these techniques and to address future research in the field.