The paper “‘Real-time monitoring of laser powder bed fusion process using high-speed X-ray imaging and diffraction” (Cang Zhao et al., Sci. Rep. 7, 3602-1-3602-11 [2017]). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-03761-2) received 1079 article views in 2017, placing it as one of the top 25 highly read papers (out of more than 4500 materials science papers) for Scientific Reports in 2017.

In addition to Zhao, other X-ray Science Division (XSD) co-authors are Kamel Fezzaa, Haidan Wen, Francesco De Carlo, and Tao Sun, with Ross W. Cunningham and Anthony D. Rollett from Carnegie Mellon University, and Lianyi Chen from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

The paper reports “…in situ probing the dynamics of the [laser powder bed fusion] process inside as well as above the surface of the powder bed using high-speed hard X-ray imaging and diffraction techniques at the Advanced Photon Source. It is demonstrated that quantitative structural information on melt pool size/shape, powder ejection, solidification, and phase transformation can be obtained from the high-resolution time-resolved X-ray images and diffraction patterns. The experimental and data analysis approaches developed here will provide a compass pointing to the fundamental understanding of the physics in the metal additive manufacturing (AM, a.k.a. 3D printing) process, and will further accelerate the coming of the AM age.”

The high-speed x-ray imaging and diffraction experiments were carried out at the XSD 32-ID-B,C beamline at the APS.

You can access this paper and all other the highly accessed articles by visiting Scientific Reports Top 100 in materials science page.