Electrochemical Defect Analysis of Additive Manufactured Components

Due to more freedom in design and flexibility in production, parts produced by additive manufacturing (AM) technologies offer a huge potential for the manufacture of turbomachinery components. Because of the layer by layer built structure, internal defects such as cracks or gaseous pores can occur. These defects considerably reduce the mechanical properties and increase the importance of quality control, especially in the field of turbomachinery. Therefore, in this study, an electrochemical defect analysis (EC-D) of additive manufactured components is introduced, performed, and validated in comparison to a nondestructive X-ray testing of the same part. A test rig was developed, which allows an alternation between electrochemical machining and subsequent optical documentation of each removed layer. The documentation of the surface and the macroscopic defects in the AM-parts are captured by an integrated camera system.