Patent ID: 11933747
Assignee: UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  B | IPC B  G

Claim 16:
17. A method for real-time in-situ measurements of microstructure properties of an object during 3-D printing process, comprising the steps of:
producing a parallel X-ray beam,
directing said parallel X-ray beam on a physical object manufactured in accordance with a 3-dimensional digital model by depositing a number of layers of a material in succession, wherein said parallel X-ray beam, upon impinging on said physical object, produces diffraction radiation directed away from said physical object;
positioning a reflector sub-system at a predetermined location relative to said physical object, and forming said reflector sub-system with a curved substrate of a predetermined shape and an array of reflector crystals of a predetermined configuration mounted on said curved substrate;
operatively aligning said reflector sub-system with said diffraction radiation emanating from said physical object, said diffraction radiation containing peaks of diffraction intensity corresponding to microstructure properties of a crystal structure of said physical object, wherein said peaks of diffraction intensity impinge on and are reflected from corresponding reflector crystals;
operatively coupling a data acquisition sub-system to said reflector sub-system and configuring said data acquisition sub-system for capturing thereat the peaks of diffraction intensity reflected from said corresponding reflector crystals, and producing output signals corresponding to said reflected peaks of diffraction radiation intensity;
operatively coupling a computer sub-system to said data acquisition sub-system,
computing in real-time, by said computer sub-system, microstructure properties of said printing material of said physical object during the 3-D printing process based on said output signals; and,
configuring said reflector sub-system with a cylindrically-contoured body having radius R, shaping each reflector crystal as a flat stripe, and mounting said array of reflector crystals on the inner surface of said cylindrically-contoured body, spaced-apart a distance d between adjacent reflector crystals.