Operational resilience of additively manufactured parts to stealthy cyberphysical attacks using geometric and process digital twins

  • Jeremy Cleeman
  • , Adrian Jackson
  • , Anandkumar Patel
  • , Zihan Wang
  • , Thomas Feldhausen
  • , Chenhui Shao
  • , Hongyi Xu
  • , Rajiv Malhotra

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Cyberphysical attacks on the digital backbone of Additive Manufacturing (AM) can compromise the printed part's functionality. They can alter features in the digital geometry to introduce geometric defects (e.g., missing fillets) or alter process parameters to create local defects (e.g., voids). Addressing the downtime, waste, and quality deterioration associated with existing solutions requires operational resilience, i.e., rapid elimination or disruption of defect formation (to retain part function) without production stoppage or part disposal (to retain yield). This need is unmet due to the inherently unpredictable nature of attack-induced alterations, lack of access to the original geometric model for identification of altered geometric features, and in-process imposition of unknown process dynamics via attack-driven alteration of real-time-uncontrolled (or exogenous) parameters. This work establishes the above-mentioned operational resilience for the first time by creating two Digital Twins (DT). The Geometric DT (Geo-DT) is based on a unique physical-field-driven soft sensor and topology optimization method. The Process Digital Twin (Pro-DT) combines local defect quantification with a novel Reinforcement Learning formulation and training method. The importance of these methodological advances and the scalability of our approach are examined on a real AM testbed. It is shown that Geo-DT can correct geometric defects without access to the original digital geometry or explicit knowledge of attack-altered geometric features. Further, Pro-DT can accelerate real-time disruption of local defects despite attack-driven imposition of unknown process dynamics. We discuss how our framework goes beyond the contemporary focus on pre-attack security and in-attack detection towards resilience for AM and beyond.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)626-651
Number of pages26
JournalJournal of Manufacturing Systems
Volume83
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2025

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation , USA, grants 2434383 , 2434384 , 2434385 , 2503364 , 2146062 , and 2001081 and by the Graduate Research Fellowship Program from the National Science Foundation, USA. This work is also partially funded by the Department of Energy DE-EE0008303 with the support of Oak Ridge National Laboratory . This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy . Research was co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy , Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office .

Keywords

  • Additive Manufacturing
  • Attack
  • Cyberphysical
  • Digital Twin
  • Resilience

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