Additive manufacturing is a process where additional material is added onto a metal surface to improve the surface quality or to create 3D structures. The most common welding methods such as beam and arc welding methods can be applied for additive manufacturing. Processing lasers are typically used in laser sintering processes where a powder bed is melted by a laser beam (SLM – Selective Laser Melting, DMLS – Direct Metal Laser Sintering). Same type of lasers can be used also for directed energy deposition where the filler material is added from the process head (DED). Cold Metal Transfer (CMT) is typically used for arc based deposition due to its lower heat input as compared to other Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) methods.

Similar to welding processes, in additive manufacturing there is a high energy impact on a small area and the processes emit large amount of thermal light. Therefore the core of the process is extremely bright, and thus also a major challenge for camera-based imaging systems of additive manufacturing processes.

Cavitar’s CAVILUX laser illumination enables clear visualization of additive manufacturing processes as if they are cold by eliminating the process brightness. This is mainly due to the high spectral brightness of the laser lighting in combination with efficient filtering of the thermal light. Our solutions can be applied principally in all arc and laser based additive manufacturing and metal 3D printing processes. The solutions range from high-speed imaging for research purposes to quality assurance in industrial production lines.

Different kinds of flows and sprays are performing essential functions in numerous of applications in industrial processes, medical applications and even inside consumer products like inkjet printers. Flow and spray imaging can be applied in order to study and monitor liquid and gaseous flow parameters or process objects like droplets, bubbles and different kind of particles. When imaging flows and sprays the objects of interest are typically very small and fast, or they can even be embedded in dense and opaque liquids.

Motion blur becomes more severe as the speed of the object increases. The effect is further increased if the magnification of the image increases like in microscopic applications. The camera exposure time can be a limiting factor when choosing cameras to visualize such processes, but the other way of reducing the blur and “freezing the motion” are very short light pulses. Optical solutions for the illumination play also an essential role in picking up desired information from the flow such as velocity or mixing of different phases.

CAVILUX laser lighting offers very short pulses to monitor and visualize a wide range of applications in research and industry. These systems are also used in online monitoring systems where the growth of particles is measured to allow control of the processes. Wide variety of optical solutions for the light sources is available.

Different kinds of flows and sprays are performing essential functions in numerous of applications in industrial processes, medical applications and even inside consumer products like inkjet printers. Flow and spray imaging can be applied in order to study and monitor liquid and gaseous flow parameters or process objects like droplets, bubbles and different kind of particles. When imaging flows and sprays the objects of interest are typically very small and fast, or they can even be embedded in dense and opaque liquids.

Motion blur becomes more severe as the speed of the object increases. The effect is further increased if the magnification of the image increases like in microscopic applications. The camera exposure time can be a limiting factor when choosing cameras to visualize such processes, but the other way of reducing the blur and “freezing the motion” are very short light pulses. Optical solutions for the illumination play also an essential role in picking up desired information from the flow such as velocity or mixing of different phases.

CAVILUX laser lighting offers very short pulses to monitor and visualize a wide range of applications in research and industry. These systems are also used in online monitoring systems where the growth of particles is measured to allow control of the processes. Wide variety of optical solutions for the light sources is available.

Wide range of imaging sensors are used in industrial manufacturing in order to achieve high-quality products and efficient manufacturing processes. Camera-based sensors often have many advantages over other types of sensors because they produce 2D-information or even 3D-information by nature. In order to achieve desired information from the process, the choice of illumination is critical. While LED is the most common light source for many machine vision systems, they cannot solve several specific requirements.

CAVILUX laser illumination addresses the challenges that typical light sources like LEDs or halogen lamps cannot solve. These lasers are designed for easy integration into machine vision systems and their capability of eliminating motion blur and seeing through thermal radiation opens up new possibilities for machine vision systems.

In ultra-high-speed applications, such as shockwave imaging, motion blur is typically one of the key factors that reduce the information content of the images. If the camera exposure time is not short enough, or if the output power and brightness of the illumination are not high enough, motion blur cannot be avoided. CAVILUX laser illumination overcomes both of these problems by providing short light pulses of high power and brightness up to repetition rates in the MHz range.

• Clear visibility of  shockwaves
• More detailed images as compared to other light sources
• Applicability up to 10 MHz with ultra-high-speed (UHS) version
• E.g. medical applications, combustion in pressure chambers, materials testing
• Recommended products: CAVILUX HF or CAVILUX Smart

Monitoring the surface topography of webs (e.g. paper) or metals (e.g. slab) is vital in many manufacturing applications in order to detect errors and to ensure appropriate quality control. Early detection of flaws in the surface can help to fix problems right away during the process, and hence reduce the amount of scrap that would otherwise appear. Real-time monitoring can thus be a valuable asset in paper, metal and process industries.

Traditionally, vision based monitoring meets special challenges whenever processes are running at high speed or they contain hot objects. Due to the high speed of many industrial webs, like in paper manufacturing, motion blur is seriously limiting the detection of small flaws. On the other hand, processes with hot objects, such as in hot metal rolling in foundries, can hide valuable information behind the glow of the material.

CAVILUX lasers can generate short pulses of high power and high spectral brightness which typically eliminates all problems related to motion blur or disturbing thermal light from the hot object. As a result, fast and/or hot webs can be monitored reliably, enabling fast error detection and reduced amount of scrap.

In welding applications typically metallic pieces and components are joined together by melting the material in the connection area. In some applications, especially with thick materials, filler material is added to the joint. The heat is typically induced by electricity like in induction welding, spot welding and arc welding, or by electromagnetic radiation as in laser and electron beam welding. Due to the high energy impact on a small area, the processes emit large amount of thermal light. Therefore the core of the welding process is extremely bright, and thus also a major challenge for camera-based welding imaging systems.

Cavitar’s laser illumination enables clear visualization of welding processes as if they were essentially cold by eliminating welding brightness. This is mainly due to the high spectral brightness of the laser lighting in combination with efficient filtering of the thermal light. Our solutions can be applied principally in all arc and laser welding processes. The solutions range from high-speed imaging of welding for research purposes to quality assurance of welding processes in industrial production lines.