Ribbon filament and assembly for use in extrusion-based digital manufacturing systems
AssigneeStratasys, Inc.
InventorsJ. Samuel Batchelder, William J. Swanson, S. Scott Crump
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A consumable material for use in an extrusion-based digital manufacturing system, the consumable material comprising a length and a cross-sectional profile of at least a portion of the length that is axially asymmetric. The cross-sectional profile is configured to provide a response time with a non-cylindrical liquefier of the extrusion-based digital manufacturing system that is faster than a response time achievable with a cylindrical filament in a cylindrical liquefier for a same thermally limited, maximum volumetric flow rate.
Claims19
A method of forming a non-cylindrical filament for use in an extrusion-based additive manufacturing system to build a three-dimensional part or a support structure in a layer-by-layer manner, the method comprising:
- providing a multi-layer sheet of extrudable material, the sheet comprising a base layer and a next layer, wherein the base layer and the next layer are of different materials and at least one of the materials comprises a thermoplastic, wherein the base layer or the next layer comprises a thermoplastic loaded with carbon fiber;
- and
- cutting the sheet of extrudable material into strips to form individual ribbon filaments, each ribbon filament configured to be melted and extruded within a liquefier and each ribbon filament having a substantially uniform length and a substantially uniform rectangular cross-sectional profile along its length, wherein the cross-sectional profile of the individual ribbon filaments have has an aspect ratio between 2.5:1 and 20:1 of width to thickness, and each of the individual ribbon filaments exhibit a Young's Modulus value ranging from 1.0 gigapascal to 5.0 gigapascals.
A method of forming a non-cylindrical filament for use in an extrusion-based additive manufacturing system to build a three-dimensional part or a support structure in a layer-by-layer manner, the method comprising:
- providing a multi-layer sheet of extrudable material, wherein the sheet comprises a base layer, a top layer over the base layer, and a bottom layer beneath the base layer, wherein the base layer is a different material from the top and bottom layers and at least one of the materials comprises a thermoplastic, wherein at least one of the the top layer, the base layer and the middle layer comprises a thermoplastic loaded with carbon fibers;
- and
- cutting the sheets of material into strips to thereby form individual ribbon filaments, each ribbon filament configured to be melted and extruded with a liquefier and each ribbon filament having a substantially uniform length and a substantially uniform rectangular cross-sectional profile along its length, wherein the cross-sectional profile of each individual ribbon filament has an aspect ratio between 2.5:1 and 20:1 of width to thickness, and each individual ribbon filament exhibits a Young's Modulus value ranging from 1.0 gigapascal to 5.0 gigapascals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.