Photon Doppler Velocimeter to Measure Entrained Additive Manufactured Bulk Metal Powders in Hot Subsonic and Supersonic Oxygen Gas

Parts produced by additive manufacturing, particularly selective laser melting (SLM), have been shown to silt metal particulate even after undergoing stringent precision aerospace cleaning processes (Lowrey 2016). As printed parts are used in oxygen systems with increased pressures, temperatures, and gas velocity, the risk of ignition by particle impact, the most common direct ignition source of metals in oxygen, substantially increases. The White Sands Test Facility (WSTF), in collaboration with Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), desires to test the ignitability of SLM metals by particle impact in heated oxygen. The existing test systems rely on gas velocity calculations to infer particle velocity in both subsonic and supersonic particle impact systems. Until now, it was not possible to directly measure particle velocity. To increase the fidelity of planned SLM ignition studies, it is necessary to validate that the Photon Doppler Velocimetry(PDV) test system can accurately measure particle velocity.