Three dimensional printing
AssigneeMarkforged, Inc.
InventorsGregory Thomas Mark, Antoni S. Gozdz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Various embodiments related to three dimensional printers, and reinforced filaments, and their methods of use are described. In one embodiment, a void free reinforced filament is fed into an conduit nozzle. The reinforced filament includes a core, which may be continuous or semi-continuous, and a matrix material surrounding the core. The reinforced filament is heated to a temperature greater than a melting temperature of the matrix material and less than a melting temperature of the core prior to drag the filament from the conduit nozzle.
Claims20
A three dimensional printer for additive manufacturing of a part, comprising:
- a build platen for receiving and supporting the part;
- a print head opposing the build platen, the print head including a conduit nozzle having an ironing outlet lip and a heater;
- a motorized feeding mechanism constructed and arranged to drive a composite filament toward the ironing outlet lip, wherein the composite filament includes a matrix material permeating a core of at least one axial strand extending within the filament;
- a motorized three axis translation mechanism constructed and arranged to translate the conduit nozzle and a build platen with respect to one another;
- a controller operatively connected to the heater, the feeding mechanism and the three axis translation mechanism, the controller controlling the velocity of the print head, an unattached terminal end of the composite filament, and the build platen to iron melted matrix material including the at least one axial strand by:
- heating the ironing outlet lip;
- and
- ironing an initial rounded cross-sectional shape of the composite filament with the at least one axial strand therein into a substantially compressed, wider than tall, second cross-sectional shape with strands redistributed therein, thereby moving the at least one axial strand to vertically compress and horizontally spread.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.