Carolin Korner¹, Christopher Arnold¹, Christoph Breuning¹; ¹University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

During electron beam melting, demanding processing conditions such as high temperature, vacuum conditions and X-ray Radiation impede the continuous operation of standard process monitoring devices like light-optical camera systems. To overcome this deficit, detection of backscattered electrons is a highly promising approach. It delivers a signal, which is sensitive to variations of process parameters while the detector is unsusceptible to the harsh environmental conditions. A detection system for backscattered electrons is implemented in an in-house EBM system and used for the acquisition of electron optical images of the molten surfaces as well as for the record of the in-situ signal during melting. The data is correlated afterwards to the as-built specimens to demonstrate the high usability for process monitoring during EBM.