Localization of Acoustical Events in Laser Metal Deposition

Abstract

Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) combines laser energy and powder material to create complex structures on existing components. It enables cost-effective production of multi-material compositions, like reinforcing metals with ceramic particles for enhanced wear resistance. However, dissimilar material characteristics can lead to defects, especially crack propagation and delamination.

Efforts focus on optimizing process parameters and real-time monitoring to reduce the effort of mitigating defects. Assessing acoustic emissions aids in early defect detection and provides process stability insights. Besides of time- and frequency resolved information on the acoustical signals, precise defect localization is crucial, especially for manufacturing programs with multiple components on a substrate material.

To instantly locate delamination defects, a multi-microphone array is proposed. This study also explores localization techniques, accuracy, and reliability. To investigate these, experiments on a test platform were used with simulated acoustical events that replicate known defect sounds.