The structural and mechanical properties of fibers manufactured from a batch-wise directed-energy deposition process is related to the fiber morphology. Mechanical property data of a batch is determined by testing a random sample of fibers. Metrics such as edge roughness are utilized to quantify the variations in the outer edges of a fiber whose morphology is expected to be uniform. The amount of edge roughness present in a batch of fibers affects the mechanical properties of the batch. A correlation between reduced mechanical properties and edge roughness was possible through calculating edge roughness metrics programmatically for each batch of fibers. In order to automate the analysis of batches of fibers, a software tool was leveraged to gain understanding of the morphologies.
Cailin Simpson, Katherine Vinson, Ryan J. Hooper, Steve Simske, "Fiber Morphology Analysis for Directed-Energy Deposition Manufacturing Process" in Proc. IS&T Printing for Fabrication: Int'l Conf. on Digital Printing Technologies (NIP35), 2019, pp 75 - 78, https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.2019.35.75