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US 10,987,941 B2Granted
Direct write three-dimensional printing of aligned composite materials
AssigneeNortheastern University
InventorsScott Goodrich, Andrew Caunter, Daniel Shores, Ryan Pembroke, Amy Den Dulk, Randall Erb
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for producing a composite part, such as a reinforced composite part, are provided that enable control over the fiber or other particle orientation within each layer of the part during manufacture. The apparatus and method employ a print head including a dispensing tip and a magnetic assembly controllable to apply a magnetic field at a print location adjacent the dispensing tip outlet.
Claims20
An apparatus for producing a composite part, comprising:
- a print head comprising a support block, a dispensing tip having an outlet, the dispensing tip supported on the support block with the outlet of dispensing tip disposed to dispense material to a print location below the support block, and a magnetic assembly supported on the support block, the magnetic assembly controllable to apply a magnetic field in a desired magnetic field direction and having a desired magnetic field strength at the print location adjacent to and directly below the outlet of the dispensing tip;
- a pump in fluid communication with the dispensing tip to provide a magnetically responsive precursor material to the dispensing tip;
- a bed disposed below the outlet of the dispensing tip to receive the magnetically responsive precursor material at the print location, the print head and the bed movable in three dimensions relative to each other;
- and
- one or more processors and memory, and machine-readable instructions stored in the memory that, upon execution by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to carry out operations comprising controlling the magnetic assembly to apply the magnetic field in the desired direction and with the desired strength at the print location.
2 more elements
A method for producing a composite part, comprising:
- dispensing, through a dispensing tip supported on a print head and having an outlet disposed to dispense material to a print location below the support block, a precursor material onto a bed while moving the dispensing tip and the bed relative to each other, the precursor material comprising a matrix material and magnetically responsive particles, the magnetically responsive particles comprising at least in part a magnetic material;
- applying, by a magnetic assembly supported on the print head, a magnetic field in a desired direction and having a desired strength at the print location adjacent to and directly below the outlet of the dispensing tip to align the magnetically responsive particles within an alignment zone on the bed;
- allowing the precursor material to cure to maintain the magnetically responsive particles in an aligned position outside of the alignment zone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.