“With 3-D printing, you can make parts with very complex geometries that are not accessible for casting like regular metal parts,” said SLAC staff scientist Johanna Nelson Weker, who is leading the project. “Theoretically, it can be a quick turnaround – simply design, send, print from a remote location. But we’re not there yet. We still need to figure out all of the parameters involved in making solid, strong parts.”
The project is taking place at SLAC’s Stanford Synchotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) in collaboration with scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Ames Laboratory.

SLAC staff scientist Johanna Nelson Weker, front, leads a study on metal 3-D printing at SLAC’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource with researchers Andrew Kiss and Nick Calta, back. [Image: Dawn Harmer/SLAC]
“We are providing the fundamental physics research that will help us identify which aspects of metal 3-D printing are important,” said Chris Tassone, a staff scientist in SSRL’s Materials Science Division.
Observing a part while it’s being 3D printed isn’t enough to see how deeply the laser is melting the layers of metal powder. The researchers tried imaging the layers with thermal radiation, but that didn’t give them enough information to tell what was causing the weak spots. X-rays turned out to be the perfect answer, letting the scientists see inside the layers as they’re being printed. They’re currently using two different types of X-ray methods. One creates micron-resolution images of the layers as they build up; the other bounces X-rays off the atoms in the powder to analyze its atomic structure as it changes from solid to liquid and back during melting and cooling.
The scientists also plan to study directed energy deposition processes, and they want to add a high-speed camera so that they can collect photographs and video and correlate what they see with their X-ray data. This is valuable for manufacturers and researchers who use cameras to observe the 3D printing process but don’t have access to an X-ray synchrotron.
“We want people to be able to connect what they see on their cameras with what we are measuring here so they can infer what’s happening below the surface of the growing metal material,” said Nelson Weker. “We want to put meaning to those signatures.”
Other researchers working on the project include Kevin Stone, Anthony Fong, Andrew Kiss and Vivek Thampy. The research was funded by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office.
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[Source: SLAC]
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