WO2015039817A1 - Method for additive manufacturing of three-dimensional article(s) - Google Patents
Method for additive manufacturing of three-dimensional article(s) Download PDFInfo
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- WO2015039817A1 WO2015039817A1 PCT/EP2014/067312 EP2014067312W WO2015039817A1 WO 2015039817 A1 WO2015039817 A1 WO 2015039817A1 EP 2014067312 W EP2014067312 W EP 2014067312W WO 2015039817 A1 WO2015039817 A1 WO 2015039817A1
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- energy beam
- scan lines
- dimensional
- layer
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Classifications
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B22—CASTING; POWDER METALLURGY
- B22F—WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
- B22F10/00—Additive manufacturing of workpieces or articles from metallic powder
- B22F10/20—Direct sintering or melting
- B22F10/28—Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM]
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C64/00—Additive manufacturing, i.e. manufacturing of three-dimensional [3D] objects by additive deposition, additive agglomeration or additive layering, e.g. by 3D printing, stereolithography or selective laser sintering
- B29C64/10—Processes of additive manufacturing
- B29C64/141—Processes of additive manufacturing using only solid materials
- B29C64/153—Processes of additive manufacturing using only solid materials using layers of powder being selectively joined, e.g. by selective laser sintering or melting
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C64/00—Additive manufacturing, i.e. manufacturing of three-dimensional [3D] objects by additive deposition, additive agglomeration or additive layering, e.g. by 3D printing, stereolithography or selective laser sintering
- B29C64/30—Auxiliary operations or equipment
- B29C64/386—Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
- B29C64/393—Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B33—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
- B33Y—ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL [3-D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVE AGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3-D PRINTING, STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING
- B33Y10/00—Processes of additive manufacturing
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B22—CASTING; POWDER METALLURGY
- B22F—WORKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; APPARATUS OR DEVICES SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR METALLIC POWDER
- B22F10/00—Additive manufacturing of workpieces or articles from metallic powder
- B22F10/30—Process control
- B22F10/36—Process control of energy beam parameters
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- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
- Y02P10/00—Technologies related to metal processing
- Y02P10/25—Process efficiency
Definitions
- the present invention relates to a method for additive manufacturing of three- dimensional articles.
- Freeform fabrication or additive manufacturing is a method for forming three- dimensional articles through successive fusion of chosen parts of powder layers applied to a worktable.
- a method and apparatus according to this technique is disclosed in US 2009/0152771.
- Such an apparatus may comprise a work table on which the three-dimensional article is to be formed, a powder dispenser, arranged to lay down a thin layer of powder on the work table for the formation of a powder bed, a ray gun for delivering energy to the powder whereby fusion of the powder takes place, elements for control of the ray given off by the ray gun over the powder bed for the formation of a cross section of the three-dimensional article through fusion of parts of the powder bed, and a controlling computer, in which information is stored concerning consecutive cross sections of the three-dimensional article.
- a three-dimensional article is formed through consecutive fusions of consecutively formed cross sections of powder layers, successively laid down by the powder dispenser.
- an article of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus which enables a fast production of three-dimensional articles by freeform fabrication or additive manufacturing without sacrificing the quality of the final product.
- the abovementioned article is achieved by the features in the method according to the claims provided herein.
- a method for forming at least two separate three-dimensional regions through successive fusion of parts of a powder bed, which parts correspond to successive cross sections of the three- dimensional regions comprises the steps of: providing models of the three- dimensional regions, applying a first powder layer on a work table, directing a first energy beam from a first energy beam source over the work table causing the first powder layer to fuse in first selected locations according to corresponding models to form a first cross section of the three- dimensional regions, where the first energy beam is fusing a first region with parallel scan lines in a first direction and a second region with parallel scan lines in a second direction, fusing at least one of the scan lines in the first region in the first direction immediately before fusing at least one of the scan lines in the second region in the second direction, applying a second powder layer on the at least partially fused first powder layer, directing the energy beam over the work table causing the second powder layer to fuse in second selected locations according
- One non-limiting advantage of various embodiments of the present invention is that the manufacturing time may be decreased because the scan speed within a particular article may be increased without affecting the build temperature. This is because two adjacent scan lines for fusing a particular powder layer in a single region is interrupted by at least another scan line in another region. This means that the scan speed may be increased compared to if the adjacent scan lines were fused one after the other. Using a too high scan speed when melting two adjacent scan lines in a particular layer in a particular region may result in a too high build temperature, which may, in turn, affect the mechanical properties of the material.
- the "another" region is the second region. This means that the scanning order in the first and a subsequent layer is the same.
- the another region is a third region which means that the scanning order in the first and a subsequent layer is different.
- first and second regions are within a single three-dimensional article. This means that the single article may have cross sections which are physically separate from each other. In another example embodiment the first and second regions are provided two separate three-dimensional articles, which means that two distinct three dimensional articles are manufactured.
- another advantage of the present invention is that the inventive method is applicable both when one or several three dimensional articles is manufactured.
- first and second directions are parallel.
- third and fourth directions are parallel. This means that at least two regions in the same powder layer may be fused with scan lines having the same direction. The advantage of this embodiment may be that it saves some time since the many of the settings of the energy beam are the same for the first and second regions.
- the first and/or second direction is rotated an angle a with respect to the third and/or fourth direction, where 1° ⁇ a ⁇ 179°.
- the advantage of at least this embodiment is that there might be different scanning directions within a first single layer for different articles and those scanning directions may be rotated the angle a when fusing the next powder layer.
- the rotation angle may be different for different articles from one layer to another. This may be advantageous when the shapes of the articles to be manufactured are different so that different scanning directions for different articles with different shape may decrease the total building time.
- the scan lines in at least one layer of at least one three-dimensional article may be straight lines.
- the scan lines in at least one layer of at least one three-dimensional article may be meandering.
- the advantage of at least this embodiment is that material properties may still further be improved by alternating straight line scanning lines with meandering scanning line for subsequent layers in the three dimensional article.
- the scan lines in at least one layer of at least a first three-dimensional region are fused with a first energy beam from a first energy beam source and at least one layer of at least a second three-dimensional region is fused with a second energy beam from a second energy beam source.
- the advantage of at least this embodiment is that multiple energy beam sources may still decrease the manufacturing time.
- Another advantage is that different energy beams used for different layers in the three-dimensional article may remove defects which are amplified because of small repetitive defects coming from a single energy beam source or its deflection mechanism.
- the first energy beam is emanating from a first electron beam source and the second energy beam is emanating from a first laser beam source.
- the first energy beam is emanating from a first electron beam source and the second energy beam is emanating from a second electron beam source.
- the first energy beam is emanating from a first laser beam source and the second energy beam is emanating from a second laser beam source.
- Using different types of energy beam sources such as a laser beam source and an electron beam source may still further improve the material characteristics of the three dimensional article since.
- two energy beam source of the same type they may differ in powder output and/or maximum deflection angle. This may be used in order to tailor the material properties of the final product.
- the first and second energy beams are fusing at least the first and second three-dimensional regions simultaneously. This may be performed by actually impinging the two energy beam at exactly the same position simultaneously. Another way is to first melt scan with the first energy beam and thereafter melt at least a portion of the already fused track with the second energy beam.
- the first energy beam is used for finalizing a first scan line and the second energy beam is used for finalizing a second scan line, where the first and second scan lines are arranged at a predetermined distance from each other. These embodiments may further decrease the manufacturing time and/or improve the material characteristics of the final product.
- a method for forming at least one three-dimensional article through successive fusion of parts of a powder bed, which parts correspond to successive cross sections of the three-dimensional article.
- the method comprises the steps of: providing a model of the at least one three- dimensional article, applying a first powder layer on a work table, directing a first energy beam from a first energy beam source over the work table causing the first powder layer to fuse in first selected locations according to the corresponding model to form a first cross section of the at least one three-dimensional article, where the first energy beam is fusing a first article with parallel scan lines in a first direction, and fusing a second scan line in the first direction in the first layer in the first article within a predetermined time interval after fusing a first scan line in the first article, wherein at least one intermediate scan line is fused within the time interval at another predetermined position and where the first and second scan lines are adjacent to each other.
- the time between two adjacent scan lines in a particular article is within a predetermined time interval. This is to ensure that the build temperature is not above or below a predetermined temperature interval. Waiting too long between too adjacent scan lines may result in too much cooling of the three dimensional article resulting in a too low build temperature and a too short time between two adjacent scan lines may result in a not sufficient cooling of the three dimensional article resulting in a too high build temperature.
- the time period between two adjacent scan lines for a particular layer of a particular three dimensional article may be used for an intermediate scan line at another position with respect to the first and second scan lines. The advantage of this embodiment is that the manufacturing time may be reduced because the time between two adjacent scanning lines for a particular article is used for scanning elsewhere.
- the intermediate scan line is within the first article. This means that the intermediate scan line is provided at another position in the same article compared to the first and second adjacent scan lines.
- the advantage of at least this embodiment is that the manufacturing time of a single three dimensional article may be reduced.
- the intermediate scan line is provided at a predetermined distance from the first and second scan lines. This is to ensure that the build temperature of the three-dimensional article can be controlled within the temperature interval. If providing the intermediate scan line to close to any one of the first or second scan line the build temperature may be reach above the predetermined temperature interval with maintained scan speed, alternatively the scan speed has to be decreased but that may not be desirable.
- the intermediate scan line is in another article. This will require a manufacturing of at least two articles at the same time. If more than two articles are manufactured the intermediate scan line may jump to any one of the other three-dimensional articles having a cross section in the same powder layer.
- the advantage of providing the intermediate scan line in another three dimensional article is that there may be less requirement for taking care of a distance between a former scan line in the same powder layer.
- one or more of the three dimensional article may be built up of a plurality of intermediate scan lines or all of its scan line being intermediate scan lines. In the example of a build with two three dimensional articles every second scan line could be provided on a first article and the rest, the intermediate scan lines, in the second article.
- the method may further comprise the steps of: applying a second powder layer on the at least partially fused first powder layer, directing the energy beam over the second powder layer causing the second powder layer to fuse in second selected locations according to a corresponding model to form a second cross section of the three dimensional article, where the energy beam is fusing the first article with parallel scan lines in a second direction, and fusing a second scan line in the second direction in the first article in the second layer within a predetermined time interval after fusing a first scan line in the first article in the second direction, wherein at least one intermediate scan lines is fused within the time interval at another predetermined position and where the first and second scan lines in the second direction are adjacent to each other.
- the scan direction has been changed in comparison with the first layer for eliminating or reducing the effects of any defects which may result if fusing two adjacent layers with the same scanning direction.
- the scanning strategy is to use the idle time between two adjacent scan lines in a particular article and layer for fusing elsewhere. Elsewhere could in an example embodiment be as in the first layer in the same article at a predetermined distance from the first and second adjacent scan lines.
- the intermediate scan line may fuse another article in the same manner as for the first layer.
- the a first scan line in at least one layer of the at least one three-dimensional article is fused with a first energy beam from a first energy beam source and a second scan line in at least one layer of the at least one three- dimensional article is fused with a second energy beam from a second energy beam source.
- the first and second energy beam sources may be emanating from the same type of energy beam source such as a first and second laser beam source and a first and second electron beam source or different type of energy beam sources such as a laser beam source and an electron beam source.
- the powder output, beam characteristics, maximum deflection angle etc. may differ between the first and second source for making it possible to tailor the material properties of the three dimensional article.
- the scan lines may be straight line or meandering lines and the scan lines in a first layer for a particular article may be rotated an angle a, where 1 ° ⁇ a ⁇ 179°.
- Figure 1 depicts a prior art hatch algorithm for a single layer of four different three- dimensional articles
- Figure 2 illustrates schematically a virtual move of the articles in Figure 1 according to an example embodiment of the present invention
- Figure 3 depicts an apparatus in which the present invention may be implemented
- Figure 4 illustrates schematically a virtual move of articles in Figure 1 according to an example embodiment of the present invention
- Figure 5 depicts schematically a scan line order for the horizontal scan lines in the three-dimensional articles in Figure 1 according to an example embodiment of the present invention
- Figure 6 depicts schematically a scan line order for the vertical scan lines in the three-dimensional articles in Figure 1 according to an example embodiment of the present invention
- Figure 7 depicts a schematic flowchart of an example embodiment of the method according to the present invention.
- Figure 8 depicts a schematic top view of the scan lines in a first layer of two three dimensional articles.
- Figure 9 depicts a schematic top view of the scan lines in a second layer of the two three dimensional articles in Figure 8.
- the term "electron beam” as used herein in various embodiments refers to any charged particle beam.
- the sources of a charged particle beam can include an electron gun, a linear accelerator and so on.
- Figure 3 depicts an example embodiment of a freeform fabrication or additive manufacturing apparatus 300 according to prior art in which the present invention may be implemented.
- the apparatus 300 comprises an electron source 306; two powder hoppers 304, 314; a start plate 316; a build tank 310; a powder distributor 328; a build platform 302; a vacuum chamber 320, a beam deflection unit 307 and a control unit 308.
- Figure 3 discloses only one beam source for sake of simplicity. Of course, any number of beam sources may be used.
- the vacuum chamber 320 is capable of maintaining a vacuum environment by means of or via a vacuum system, which system may comprise a turbomolecular pump, a scroll pump, an ion pump and one or more valves which are well known to a skilled person in the art and therefore need no further explanation in this context.
- the vacuum system may be controlled by the control unit 308.
- the build tank may be provided in an enclosable chamber provided with ambient air and atmosphere pressure.
- the build chamber may be provided in open air.
- the electron beam source 306 is generating an electron beam, which may be used for melting or fusing together powder material 305 provided on the work table. At least a portion of the electron beam source 306 may be provided in the vacuum chamber 320.
- the control unit 308 may be used for controlling and managing the electron beam emitted from the electron beam source 306.
- the electron beam 351 may be deflected between at least a first extreme position 351a and at least a second extreme position 351b.
- At least one focusing coil, at least one deflection coil and an electron beam power supply may be electrically connected to the control unit 308.
- the beam deflection unit 307 may comprise the at least one focusing coil, the at least one deflection coil and optionally at least one astigmatism coil.
- the electron beam source may generate a focusable electron beam with an accelerating voltage of about 60kV and with a beam power in the range of 0-3kW.
- the pressure in the vacuum chamber may be in the range of 10 ⁇ 3 -10 ⁇ 6 mBar when building the three-dimensional article by fusing the powder layer by layer with the energy beam source 306.
- each laser beam may normally be deflected by one or more movable mirror provided in the laser beam path between the laser beam source and the work table onto which the powder material is arranged which is to be fused by the laser beam.
- the control unit 308 may manage the deflection of the mirrors so as to steer the laser beam to a predetermined position on the work table.
- the powder hoppers 304, 314 may comprise the powder material to be provided on the start plate 316 in the build tank 310.
- the powder material may for instance be pure metals or metal alloys such as titanium, titanium alloys, aluminum, aluminum alloys, stainless steel, Co-Cr-W alloy, and the like. Instead of two powder hoppers, one powder hopper may be used. Other designs and/or mechanism for of the powder supply may be used, for instance a powder tank with a height- adjustable floor.
- the powder distributor 328 may be arranged to lay down a thin layer of the powder material on the start plate 316.
- the build platform 302 will be lowered successively in relation to the energy beam source after each added layer of powder material.
- the build platform 302 is in one embodiment of the invention arranged movably in vertical direction, i.e., in the direction indicated by arrow P. This means that the build platform 302 may start in an initial position, in which a first powder material layer of necessary thickness has been laid down on the start plate 316.
- a first layer of powder material may be thicker than the other applied layers.
- the reason for starting with a first layer which is thicker than the other layers is that one may not want a melt-through of the first layer onto the start plate.
- the build platform may thereafter be lowered in connection with laying down a new powder material layer for the formation of a new cross section of a three-dimensional article.
- Means for lowering the build platform 302 may for instance be through a servo engine equipped with a gear, adjusting screws, and the like.
- Figure 7 it is depicted a flow chart of an example embodiment of a method according to the present invention for forming at least two separate three-dimensional articles through successive fusion of parts of a powder bed, which parts correspond to successive cross sections of the three-dimensional article.
- the method comprising a first step 702 of providing models of the three dimensional articles.
- the models may be a computer model generated via a CAD (Computer Aided Design) tool.
- the three-dimensional articles which are to be built may be equal or different to each other.
- a first powder layer is provided on a work table.
- the work table may be the start plate 316, the build platform 302, a powder bed or a partially fused powder bed.
- the powder may be distributed evenly over the worktable according to several methods. One way to distribute the powder is to collect material fallen down from the hopper 304, 314 by a rake system.
- the rake or powder distributor 328 may be moved over the build tank and thereby distributing the powder over the work table.
- a distance between a lower part of the rake and the upper part of the start plate or previous powder layer determines the thickness of powder distributed over the work table.
- the powder layer thickness can easily be adjusted by adjusting the height of the build platform 302.
- a first energy beam is directed from a first energy beam source over the work table causing the first powder layer to fuse in first selected locations according to corresponding models to form a first cross section of the three-dimensional articles 303.
- the first energy beam may be fusing a first article with parallel scan lines in a first direction and a second article with parallel scan lines in a second direction.
- the first energy beam may be an electron beam or a laser beam.
- the beam is directed over the work table from instructions given by the control unit 308.
- instructions for how to control the beam source 306 for each layer of the three-dimensional article may be stored.
- Figure 1 it is disclosed a scan line algorithm according to prior art.
- four square formed articles 102, 104, 106, 108 are arranged in a slanted line, where the diagonal line in each square is parallel with the slanted line.
- the scan line algorithm according to prior art scans one article after the other, i.e., starting with the article 108 and completing the melting of the article before starting to melt the next article, which in Figure 1 is article 106.
- Each square is illustrated to have five scan lines. Hatching four squares requires 20 scan lines in total.
- the time it takes for a scan line to be melted is independent of its length, within a predetermined maximum length of the scan length.
- This strategy may be used for controlling the temperature of three-dimensional article which is to be manufactured. If a scan line would arrive at a previously fused area to early the surface and/or the bulk temperature of the three dimensional article may increase over a predetermined maximum temperature, which in turn may affect the microstructure, internal stress and/or tensile strength of the material.
- a fourth step 708 at least one of the scan lines in the first article is fused in the first direction immediately before fusing at least one of the scan lines in the second article in the second direction.
- Figure 2 illustrates schematically a virtual move of the articles in Figure 1 according to an example embodiment of the present invention.
- the figure serves only the purpose to exemplify how the inventive method is working and is not part of the method as such.
- a horizontal scan line in article 102 may directly continue in article 104, i.e., a first scan line from a first article may be merged with a first scan line in a second article.
- longer scan lines can be created by combining independent and physically separated regions.
- the scan lines in a first article, for instance article 102 may be in a first direction and scan lines in a second article, for instance article 104, may be in a second direction.
- other articles are scanned within the predetermined time interval.
- An upper limit of the scan speed may be the power of the energy beam source.
- the power of the energy beam In order to melt a specific material a specific energy deposition into the material is required.
- the power of the energy beam is required to increase in order to deposit the same amount of energy into the material.
- a maximum power level of the energy beam source may be reached, i.e., the scan speed may not be increased any more without decreasing the energy deposit into the material.
- a second powder layer is applied on the already partially fused first powder layer. This may be performed in a similar manner as the first powder is applied.
- a sixth step 712 the energy beam is directed over the work table causing the second powder layer to fuse in second selected locations according to corresponding models to form a second cross section of the three dimensional articles, where the energy beam is fusing the first article with parallel scan lines in a third direction and the second article with parallel scan lines in a fourth direction.
- Figure 4 illustrates schematically a virtual move and rotation of the articles in Figure 1 according to an example embodiment of the present invention.
- the figure serves only the purpose to exemplify how the inventive method is working and is not part of the method as such.
- the articles are rotated 90° clockwise before arranging the articles in a vertical row.
- the effective number of scan lines is reduced from 20 to 5 as depicted in Figure 6, resulting in a manufacturing time reduction by a factor 4 with respect to the prior art method.
- the direction of the scan lines is illustrated to be vertical for the second powder layer, i.e., the scan lines are rotated 90° with respect to the scan lines for the first powder layer.
- the scan lines for the second powder layer may be rotated by any angle a, where 1° ⁇ a ⁇ 179°. It is also depicted in Figures 4 and 6 that each article 102, 104, 106, 108 have scan lines in one and the same direction. In an example embodiment a first article may have a third scan direction and a second article a fourth scan direction. In another example embodiment the scan lines in at least one powder layer of at least one article may be meandering instead of the illustrated straight lines in Figures 1, 2, 4, 5, 6.
- a seventh step 714 at least one of the scan lines in the first article is fused in the third direction immediately before fusing at least one of the scan lines in another article in the fourth direction.
- a first scan line in the first article 102 is fused immediately before a first scan line in the second article 104.
- the first scan line for the first article 102 is fused after the first scan line for the other articles 104, 106, 108.
- the scan line order may be rearranged, e.g., the line order in Figure 5 may start with a first scan line in article 106 or 104 instead of 108.
- the "another" article may in an example embodiment be the second article; alternatively the "another" article may be a third article.
- the first powder layer only comprises the four articles as illustrated in Figure 5
- one scan line of the first article may be fused immediately before the fourth article (line order 4 in article 102 and line order 5 in article 108).
- the second powder layer as illustrated in Figure 6, none of the scan lines in the first article 102 is fused immediately before the fourth article 108, i.e., the another article is a third article in the illustrated embodiment.
- the another article will be the same article as in the first powder layer, i.e., the fourth article.
- the first and/or second scan line direction may be rotated an angle a with respect to the third and/or fourth scan line direction, so that none of the scan lines extended from the first or second three-dimensional article will intersect the other three-dimensional article.
- the scan lines in at least one layer of at least a first three-dimensional article are fused with a first energy beam from a first energy beam source and at least one layer of at least a second three-dimensional article is fused with a second energy beam from a second energy beam source.
- More than one energy beam source may be used for fusing the scan lines.
- a first energy beam source may be used for scanning directions within a first range of angles and a second energy beam source may be used for scanning directions within a second range of angles. The first end second ranges of angles may be overlapping or non-overlapping with each other.
- a first energy beam may emanate from an electron beam source and the second energy beam from a laser source.
- the first and second energy beam sources may be of the same type, i.e., a first and second electron beam source or a first and second laser beam source.
- the first and second energy beam sources may be used in sequence or simultaneously.
- the build temperature of the three- dimensional build may more easily be maintained compared to if just one beam source is used. The reason for this is that two beam may be at more locations simultaneously than just one beam. Increasing the number of beam sources will further ease the control of the build temperature.
- a first energy beam source may be used for melting the powder material and a second energy beam source may be used for heating the powder material in order to keep the build temperature within a predetermined temperature range.
- a second powder layer is provided on the work table 316.
- the second powder layer is in certain embodiments distributed according to the same manner as the previous layer.
- a first layer may be provided by means of or via a first powder distributor
- a second layer may be provided by another powder distributor.
- the design of the powder distributor is automatically changed according to instructions from the control unit.
- a powder distributor in the form of a single rake system i.e., where one rake is catching powder fallen down from both a left powder hopper 306 and a right powder hopper 307, the rake as such can change design.
- the energy beam from the energy beam source may be directed over the work table 316 causing the second powder layer to fuse in selected locations according to the model to form second cross sections of the three-dimensional article.
- Fused portions in the second layer may be bonded to fused portions of the first layer.
- the fused portions in the first and second layer may be melted together by melting not only the powder in the uppermost layer but also remelting at least a fraction of a thickness of a layer directly below the uppermost layer.
- a first scan line in a first layer in a first article in a first direction and a second scan line in the first article in the first direction is separated by N scan lines in N articles, where N is an integer 1 ⁇ N.
- a first scan line in a second layer in a first article in a second direction and a second scan line in the first article in the second direction is separated by N scan lines in N articles, where N is an integer 1 ⁇ N.
- the N articles may be the same articles in the first layer as in the second layer.
- the N articles may be fused in a first order in the first layer and in a second order in the second layer.
- the order of fusion is equal for the N articles in the first layer and the second layer.
- the merging of scan lines for different articles may reduce the manufacturing time of the three dimensional articles.
- the order of fusing different scan lines in a predetermined layer may also depend on a heat model for the three-dimensional article, i.e., the order may not be chosen stochastically without affecting a build temperature of the article which may need to be within a predetermined temperature range.
- a method for forming at least one three-dimensional article through successive fusion of parts of a powder bed, which parts correspond to successive cross sections of the three-dimensional article comprising the steps of: providing a model of the at least one three-dimensional article, applying a first powder layer on a work table, directing a first energy beam from a first energy beam source over the work table causing the first powder layer to fuse in first selected locations according to the corresponding model to form a first cross section of the at least one three-dimensional article, where the first energy beam is fusing a first article with parallel scan lines in a first direction, fusing a second scan line in the first direction in the first layer in the first article within a predetermined time interval after fusing a first scan line in the first article, wherein at least one intermediate scan line is fused within the time interval at another predetermined position and where the first and second scan lines are adjacent to each other.
- Figure 8 it is depicted top layers of a first three dimensional article A, and a second three dimensional article B.
- the first three dimensional article A is scanned with horizontal scan lines 81, 82, 83, 84 and 84.
- the second article B is scanned with vertical scan lines 801, 802, 803 and 804.
- Two adjacent scan lines, for instance scan line 81 and scan line 82 in the first three dimensional article A are fused within a predetermined time interval, i.e., the second scan line 82 is fused within the predetermined time interval after fusion of the first scan line 81.
- Within the predetermined time interval at least one intermediate scan line may be fused at another position.
- the intermediate scan line may be positioned at a predetermined distance away from the first and second scan line. If provided to close to the first and/or second scan line it may disturb the build temperature and the process may be slowed down in order to achieve the desired build temperature range. Providing the intermediate scan line at the predetermined distance away from the first and second scan lines will maintain the manufacturing speed while keeping control of the build temperature to fir within the predetermined temperature interval.
- an intermediate scan line may be provided in another three dimensional article if the manufacturing time must be slowed down due to the fact that any position in the first article that is still unfused will be too close to the first and second scan lines.
- the intermediate scan line is always provided in another three dimensional article compared to the first and second scan lines.
- the first three-dimensional article is scanned with essentially horizontal scan lines and the second three dimensional article may be scanned with essentially vertical scan lines.
- Figure 9 it is illustrated a second powder layer which is provided on top of the partially fused first powder layer.
- the first three dimensional article A is scanned with essentially vertical scan lines and the second three dimensional article B is scanned with essentially horizontal scan lines.
- the rotation of the scan lines for the second layer may not as indicated in Figure 8 and 9 be rotated 90°, but may be rotated any angle a, where 1° ⁇ a ⁇ 179°.
- the rotation between layer one and two for the first article A may be different to the rotation of the scan lines between layer one and two for article B.
- two adjacent scan lines for instance scan line 91 and scan line 92 in the first three dimensional article A may be fused within a predetermined time interval, i.e., the second scan line 92 may be fused within the predetermined time interval after fusion of the first scan line 91.
- at least one intermediate scan line may be fused at another position. This may for instance be within the first three-dimensional article A or in the second three dimensional article B or in any other three dimensional article if more than 2 articles is to be manufactured at the same time. If the intermediate scan line is to be fused within the first three dimensional article A, the intermediate scan line may be positioned at a predetermined distance away from the first and second scan line for the same reason as disclosed above in relation to layer one.
- the build temperature of a particular article will be too high since the second scan line will arrive adjacent to an already fused position in the particular article and thereby affect the build temperature of the article.
- the time interval is too long, the build temperature will be too low since it will take too long time until the second scan line will arrive adjacent to the already fused position, i.e., the article has cooled down too much to maintain a predetermined build temperature interval.
- the energy beam is directed over the second powder layer causing the second powder layer to fuse in second selected locations according to corresponding models to form a second cross section of the three dimensional articles, where the energy beam is fusing the first article with parallel scan lines in a third direction and the second article with parallel scan lines in a fourth direction. Fusing a second scan line in the third direction in a first article in the second layer within a predetermined time interval after fusing a first scan line in the first article in the first direction, wherein at least N first scan lines in N different articles in the first direction is fused within the time interval.
- N is an integer 1 ⁇ N.
Abstract
Description
Claims
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CN201480051932.7A CN105579166A (en) | 2013-09-20 | 2014-08-13 | Method for additive manufacturing of three-dimensional article(s) |
EP14750499.7A EP3046702B1 (en) | 2013-09-20 | 2014-08-13 | Method for additive manufacturing of a plurality of three-dimensional articles |
JP2016543343A JP6438032B2 (en) | 2013-09-20 | 2014-08-13 | Method for additive manufacturing of three-dimensional articles |
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US14/452,308 US9676033B2 (en) | 2013-09-20 | 2014-08-05 | Method for additive manufacturing |
US14/452,308 | 2014-08-05 | ||
US14/452,294 | 2014-08-05 | ||
US14/452,294 US9676032B2 (en) | 2013-09-20 | 2014-08-05 | Method for additive manufacturing |
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