The Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM; Berlin, Germany) has developed a patented measuring device for high-temperature laser profilometry. The new measuring method enables the use of laser scanning technology with temperatures of up to 1700 degrees Celsius for the first time. Consequently, the size and form of complex components can be measured during burning or annealing, and changes that emerge during the process can be detected. Any Deviations that may later result in the component failing can thus be identified. The measuring device can be used for various manufacturing processes including: the production of additive or conventionally manufactured ceramic components and the development of metallic components for high-temperature applications.
Modern production methods and increased quality requirements demand the use of more integrated and process-related measuring methods. In response, BAM has developed the high-temperature laser profilometer that involves a laser beam being widened and directed onto the sample which rotates within the measuring chamber. The scattered light trace reveals the shape of the sample.
"One advantage of this method is its high laser intensity. This allows measurements in temperatures of up to 1700 degrees Celsius," explains BAM expert Ralf Müller. "In addition, the device records the measured values so quickly that we can also utilise it during sintering." With this, even temporary deviations from the sample geometry can be uncovered during the burning process. This effect, referred to as temporary warpage, can ultimately lead to component failure.
The development of the high-temperature laser profilometer is also an example of the successful cooperation BAM has had with medium-sized enterprises. BAM had already developed a predecessor device in 2007, which characterized the flat surface of ceramic samples in temperatures of up to 1000 degrees Celsius. Since 2013, the scientists have been working on the demonstration device which can be seen at the Hannover Messe.
From the onset, BAM cooperated with medium-sized enterprises specialized in developing measurement technology and laboratory furnaces for the development of this measuring method. The measuring device is currently being brought to market maturity. BAM will continue to use its expertise in high-temperature laser profilometry to deepen the scientific basis of the process and to support the dissemination of the method through publication activities.
BAM will be at the Hannover Messe 2019; see http://www.bam.de/hannovermesse-en.
SOURCE: BAM; https://www.bam.de/Content/EN/Press-Releases/2019/Materials/2019-03-28-high-temperatur-laserprofilometry.html
Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.