Monitoring Variability in Melt Pool Spatiotemporal Dynamics (VIMPS): Towards Proactive Humping Detection in Additive Manufacturing

Humping is a common defect in direct energy deposition processes that reduces the geometric integrity of printed products. The available literature on humping detection is deemed reactive, as they focus on detecting late-stage melt pool spatial abnormalities. Therefore, this work introduces a novel, proactive indicator designed to detect early-stage spatiotemporal abnormalities. Specifically, the proposed indicator monitors the variability of instantaneous melt pool solidification-front speed (VIMPS). The solidification front dynamics quantify the intensity of cyclic melt pool elongation induced by early-stage humping. VIMPS tracks the solidification front dynamics based on the variance in the melt pool infrared radiations. Qualitative and quantitive analysis of the collected infrared data confirms VIMPS’s utility in reflecting the intricate humping-induced dynamics and defects. Experimental results proved VIMPS’ proactivity. By capturing early spatiotemporal abnormalities, VIMPS predicted humping by up to 10 s before any significant geometric defects. In contrast, current spatial abnormality-based methods failed to detect humping until 20 s after significant geometric defects had occurred. VIMPS’ proactive detection capabilities enable effective direct energy deposition control, boosting the process’s productivity and quality.