UW-Madison leads US project to improve additive manufacturing technology

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is leading a new $9.1 million project funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research to enable broader use of additive manufacturing technologies, particularly in the production of mission-critical components.

The team is focusing on an additive manufacturing technology called Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF), which is capable of producing parts with complex geometries. However, there is considerable variability in this technology in terms of dimensional accuracy, microstructures, porosity, residual stresses and component life. This part-to-part and machine-to-machine variability makes it difficult to efficiently and effectively qualify additively manufactured parts, which has hindered the widespread adoption of these technologies.

The aim of the project is to develop computer-aided methods to make the qualification of additively manufactured parts more efficient. The mechanical property variabilities, such as changes in microstructures and porosity, are to be used to enable greater design freedom in process-part co-design. Instead of considering process variability as an obstacle in quality control, it should be used as an advantage. The researchers aim to optimize process control variables, part geometry and material properties simultaneously, with the material properties being varied by controlling the additive manufacturing process.

In addition to Xiaoping Qian, mechanical engineering professors Curt Bronkhorst, Lianyi Chen, Shiva Rudraraju, Krishnan Suresh and Jinlong Wu are also involved in the project. They are also collaborating with researchers from GE Aerospace Research, GE Additive and Intact Solutions.

This research has the potential to significantly improve the acceptance and application of additive manufacturing in industry by increasing the reliability and performance of manufactured parts. In the long term, this could lead to a wider application of the technology in various industries, including aerospace, automotive and medical. Overall, the project aims to overcome the challenges of variability in additive manufacturing and pave new ways to integrate this technology into existing production processes. This could pave the way for more efficient, reliable and adaptable manufacturing processes of the future.