Geometry Measurement of Submerged Metallic Micro-Parts Using Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy

The in situ geometry measurement of microstructures in the laser chemical machining (LCM) manufacturing process places high demands on measurement systems because the specimen is submerged in a closed fluid circuit. The steep slopes of the manufactured micro-components and the general lack of accessibility hinder the use of standard techniques such as tactile measurement or conventional confocal microscopy. A technique based on confocal fluorescence microscopy shows promise for increasing the measurability on metallic surfaces with large curvatures. By applying an intensely scattering fluorescent coating to the specimen, the surface position can be determined by the change in fluorescence signal at the boundary between specimen and coating. In contrast to the currently tested thin coatings (<100 μm) the measurements in layers thicker than 1 mm, as required for in situ application at the LCM process, show distinct dependencies on the fluorescent medium in terms of concentration and index of refraction. Hence, a fundamentally different signal evaluation approach based on a physical model of the fluorescence signal is needed to extract the surface position information from the detected fluorescence intensity signal. For the purpose of validation, the measurement of a step geometry is performed under the condition of a thick fluid layer and referenced with a tactile measurement. As a result, the model-based approach is shown to be suitable to detect the geometry parameter step height with an uncertainty of 8.8 μm or a step submerged in a fluid layer with a thickness of 2.3 mm.