Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing of metallic parts is rapidly growing among the various parts and components which are being fabricated in various industries. One of the major challenges of wide adoption of this technology is the quality and integrity of the produced parts. Material testing and characterization based on developed codes and standards are commonly used to investigate the final properties of the parts. Among the various methodologies for material testing, nondestructive testing (NDT) provides the advantage of noninvasive investigations. NDT using ultrasonic waves (called ultrasonic testing (UT)) has been used in different modes for this purpose. The major parameter in UT is how the ultrasonic waves are propagating through the material which has a direct relation to the materials properties such as density and elasticity. Since it has been proved that changes in AM process parameters cause variations in material properties of the parts, it is assumed that the ultrasonic wave propagation must be influenced as well. The goal of this project is to investigate and quantify the influence of AM process parameters on variation of ultrasonic wave propagation and provide an interpretation of its effect on application of NDT for AM quality inspection and control. for AM quality inspection and control.
