Review on adaptive control of laser-directed energy deposition

Laser directed energy deposition (LDED) is one of the most important parts of metal additive manufacturing, which can provide fast building speed, allows for large building volumes, and is suitable for part repair. LDED can manufacture components layer by layer through processes of rapid heating, melting, solidification, and cooling with the laser beam as a heat source. However, deposition quality and repeatability of components produced by LDED are poor because of the complex thermal cycle and processing environment, hindering the spread of this technique. Adaptive control technology (ACT) is consistently considered an effective and potential way to solve the problem. Many studies have focused on LDED and established the relations of process parameters, process signatures, and product qualities, which promote the rapid development of ACT, with the development of monitoring devices and data processing technology. We review and discuss the problems existing in the ACT of LDED. (C) 2020 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)