Master Thesis „Optical inspection of the arc additive manufacturing process“

We are Austria’s largest research and technology organisation and an international player in applied research for innovative infrastructure solutions. This makes us a powerful development partner for industry and a top employer in the scientific community. Our Center for Vision, Automation & Control in Vienna invites applications for a:

Master Thesis „Optical inspection of the arc additive manufacturing process“

IMAGINE

• Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAM) is a novel 3D printing process enabling close-to-shape production with drastically reduced energy and resource consumption compared to traditional manufacturing methods. However, due to the dynamic behavior of the WAM process, a stable manufacturing process is challenging and not straightforward to implement. Current WAM systems usually need to run several trials, for fine-tuning of optimal production settings. If a dynamic feedback loop during manufacturing were implemented these trial runs could be minimized and/or avoided, for instance through temperature and material control of the welding wire.
• Real-time visual and sensory inputs are used to calculate a virtual image or digital shadow of real things or a digital twin of the current manufacturing process status, which is compared with a precalculated processing window for dynamic and flexible manufacturing control.
• The overall goal of this work is to develop an imaging system that provides input to control important process parameters in real time for inline WAM process control. Existing camera technology will be used for the visual inspection und adapted for dynamic process monitoring and control.

ENGAGE

• Within this master thesis you will learn how to adapt and run already existing visual inspection systems (inline computational imaging or ICI system and weld pool camera) that provide real-time information on various weld parameters for inline WAM control.
• To this account, the ICI system in our competence unit High-Performance Vision Systems  will be used to calculate a full 3D model. The model of the built part will be fused into a CAD model for quality control and as a starting point for ongoing processing steps.
• Moreover, a weld pool camera including a high-intensity illumination source will be used to monitor the weld pool during the welding process, while important process parameters will be retrieved from the camera images and prepared for a dynamic feedback and control loop of the WAM process.

ACHIEVE

• You will profit from developing and applying image processing skills for a relevant problem in the manufacturing industries.
• In our High-Performance Vision Systems team, 3D reconstruction and fast image processing has been developed over the last decades for quality control and inspection tasks. While working on this project related to industrial vision and optical setups you will have not only the unique opportunity to get to know the field of machine vision based on a real-world problem, but also to get a good overview over current trends developed in our Center and in the machine vision industry more generally.

Your qualifications as an Ingenious Partner*:

• Ongoing master’s studies in Computer Science, Computer Vision, Mathematics, Physics or any other related fields to image processing
• Good knowledge in CAD design and at least one programming language (MATLAB, Python, etc.)
• Enthusiastic about planning and conducting scientific studies
• Interested in technology development and applied research driven by real-world problems (especially in metalworking)
• High level of commitment and team spirit
• Very good command of German or English (verbally and in writing)

What to expect:

EUR 803,-- gross per month for 20 hours/week based on the collective agreement. There will be additional company benefits. As a research institution, we are familiar with the supervision and execution of master theses and we are looking forward to supporting you accordingly!

At AIT, the promotion of women is important to us - that's why we are especially looking forward to applications from ambitious female candidates.

TOMORROW TODAY - WITH YOU?

Please submit your application documents including your CV, cover letter and certificates online: https://jobs.ait.ac.at/Job/158688