Electron-optical in-situ crack monitoring during electron beam powder bed fusion of the Ni-Base superalloy CMSX-4

Electron beam powder bed fusion (PBF-EB) of Ni-base superalloys such as CMSX-4 is a demanding process. Using conventional PBF-EB machines, process observation is done by mounting optical camera systems on viewing windows at the top of the build chamber. However, the concomitant metallization blocks optical observation methods with increasing build time. Therefore, build quality evaluation is normally done after the process utilizing visual inspection or subsequent metallurgical analysis. In this work, CMSX-4 is processed using a freely programmable PBF-EB machine with an electron optical (ELO) imaging system. It consists of a four-segment ELO detector and in-house developed imaging software. The ELO system works reliably for almost 30 h of build time and allows a layerwise monitoring of the build area. A comparison of in-situ ELO monitoring and the sample surfaces shows remarkable accordance. Furthermore, ELO imaging is applied to exemplarily document surface cracking over long build times. Therefore, the present study successfully demonstrates the application of ELO imaging for improved process control under the demanding test conditions of Ni-base superalloys.