An Optical Roughness Sensor for the Real Time Determination of Spray Formed Preform Quality
Abstract
The emphasis in this paper is on the application of spray forming control strategies towards the use of a laser stripe sensor for the calculation of root mean square (RMS) preform surface roughness. The objective of this study is to correlate this calculation of roughness with the preform quality. Spray forming is a relatively new processing technique in which a stream of molten metal is atomized by an inert gas, producing a spray of liquid droplets. These droplets are cooled by the atomizing gas and accelerate towards a substrate where they consolidate to form a near fully dense deposit. The spray formed product is similar to the powder metallurgy product in that it has a rapidly solidified, grain-refined microstructure with limited segregation. However, unlike powder metallurgy, spray forming is free from the time consuming and costly steps of powder production, storage and handling, sintering and hot consolidation. Recent work at David Taylor Research Center evaluated the feasibility of utilizing (Osprey) spray forming to produce a variety of alloys including nickel base alloys, steel, bronzes and copper-base alloys for military applications. An extensive study of Alloy 625 indicated that the spray formed materials had equivalent or superior properties to the conventionally and powder metallurgy processed materials at a reduced production cost (2).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA243238
Entities
People
- Angela L. Moran
- Craig J. Madden
- Paul Kelley
- Rochelle D. Payne