Part identification has become a priority in manufacturing, especially opheliasmuse.com when it comes to the additive manufacturing (AM) industry, where the copyright printing of almost any digitalized component is possible.As a means of avoiding forgery, the development of non-detectable labels, or digital passports is necessary.In the present work, a novel methodology for printing subcutaneous coding on aeronautical parts is proposed thanks to the multimaterial capabilities of the laser based directed energy deposition (DED-LB).The coding is based on embedding a dot pattern of a high-density alloy on a small area of a lower density component, which once covered and finished generates a pattern only visible by X-ray imagining.The viability of the proposed methodology is proven by embedding WC particles on a Ti6Al4V substrate.
Firstly, the most relevant process parameters are optimized to ensure a sharp and a readable code, and turbo air m3f72-3-n their geometry is analysed by means of industrial Computed Tomography (CT).Also, the metallurgical quality and chemical composition of the generated dots is evaluated by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).Finally, a demonstrator part is fabricated with a hidden code.The code readability and the mechanical properties are tested to ensure the feasibility of the developed methodology.