Today’s manufacturing processes, especially 3D printing with powder or wire, presuppose Industry 4.0 solutions, which require supervision of every single production step. Transforming machine elements into intelligent cyber-physical systems involves the integration of smart sensors for condition and process monitoring. As photonic solutions are by nature contact-free processes it would be advantageous if the sensor is based on light as well if the light could be coupled into the beam path of the processing laser and if the sensor can measure surface topography in micrometer resolution. In this case, the production process can be directly connected to the CAD data set, the process could be controlled to eliminate geometrical deviations to the desired geometry and first-time-right is not a pious hope anymore. We talk about controlled individualized lot size 1 production based on OCT sensor technology.


This contribution to the ICALEO 2024 conference will report on industrial solutions where sensor technology is ready to take the lead, which is only is possible, when the measurement provides undoubtedly information about the actual process status. Especially for additive manufacturing processes the implementation of OCT technology will introduce a new level of automation.


Precitec and partners have demonstrated this solution already in combination with the DED-LB/M process using powder as additive material, demonstrated in a funded project by European commission called PARADDISE. Using wire as additive material opens a whole new area of possibilities.