The development of a smart additively manufactured part with an embedded surface acoustic wave sensor

Abstract

• The embedding of a temperature SAW sensor in an additively manufactured component results in a wireless and passive smart device. • The adopted embedding strategy did not cause any damage to the structure of the part. • The embedded SAW temperature sensor shows full functionality after the embedding process, confirming that the strategy used was successful in protecting it from the AM process temperatures. This paper presents the embedding of a temperature Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) sensor in an additively manufactured 316L stainless steel part during the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) process. The embedding of sensors and integrated circuits in additively manufactured (AM) parts is an important step towards the development of smart components; however, there are still some barriers to overcome for this to become an established technology. The L-PBF process is paused to embed a SAW sensor in an AM part to produce a wireless and passive smart component. The effect of the pausing of the L-PBF process to embed sensors on the microstructure and hardness of the manufactured parts is investigated and the embedded sensor is also tested to verify its functionality. These results act as a proof-of-concept for the embedding of SAW sensors during the L-PBF process and will lead to the development of passive wireless smart components manufactured by additive manufacturing.