Dr. Gockel’s research interests span several aspects of additive manufacturing: the effect of defects, transient process behavior, in-process sensing, residual stresses, and graded alloy manufacturing. Our work has developed a statistical understanding of the relationship between processing parameters to material variations such as surface roughness and porosity and how these features relate to fatigue failure mechanisms. The generation of non-random defects is largely driven by transient process behavior, which we are predicting through simple experiments and modeling. In-situ detection of the life-limiting defects is investigated using innovative monitoring techniques, such as visible spectroscopy. Extreme thermal cycling and changes in local geometry result in residual stresses in the material that we investigate through multiple material analysis methods and modeling. Understanding of next generation techniques, such as graded alloy manufacturing, is undertaken using experimental material characterization methods and modeling of concerns such as interface residual stress.
