5-Axis In-Line Measurement System for Laser Materials Processing

The dimensional and positional information is very important for laser materials processing of components, especially for laser cladding-based additive manufacturing. Therefore, inspection of the component based on its original CAD model is essential to ensure the component meeting the geometrical requirements. In general, the processed component has to be dismounted from the laser fabrication system before it can be inspected, which is time-consuming and may introduce alignment error from datum.In this paper, a 5-axis in-line measurement system is introduced, in which a non-contact laser measuring method along with CAD/CAM software is integrated to a laser materials processing system. An algorithm has been developed to automatically generate NC programs for measurement and comparison for outside features of components. Therefore, the inspection can be performed just after the component has been fabricated on the same system. Comparing to a 3-axis measuring system we reported before, the developed 5-axis inline measurement system provides much more flexibility, accessibility and accuracy for performing measurement on site. The developed in-line measuring capability can extend the functionality of conventional laser materials processing system and significantly shorten inspection time.Copyright © 2013 by Crown in Right of Canada