ORNL’s Ralph
Dinwiddie uses infrared cameras to create heat maps of working materials that
reveal their
thermal properties and subsurface structure. This 1998 image of an aging
aircraft’s
engine cowling
revealed severe subsurface corrosion.
Image credit: Oak
Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy; Ralph Dinwiddie
(January 15, 2016) Scientists
at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are pioneering the
use of infrared cameras to image additive manufacturing processes in hopes of
better understanding how processing conditions affect the strength, residual
stresses and microstructure of 3D-printed parts. This is just the latest
application to build upon decades of expertise in IR cameras that have added
scientific understanding to promising technological developments.
In 1995, DOE’s Continuous Fiber Ceramic Composite program,
led by ORNL, bought a high-speed IR camera—one of the first available for
purchase outside the military. ORNL researcher Ralph Dinwiddie used the new IR
camera to help developers of tough, lightweight ceramic composites study how
well these materials conducted heat and use the insight gained to optimize
manufacturing processes.
Since then, ORNL has acquired at least 10 additional IR
cameras for use in a spectrum of other projects. The cameras have mapped
changing temperatures as heat flows through objects from gears to artwork.
“At first we just planned to use this camera to measure
thermal diffusivity maps of composites,” Dinwiddie said of the 1995 purchase.
“This would allow us to measure the constituent properties and to study how
they changed due to the processing conditions.”