# US 11,440,321 B2 · Gas expansion material jetting actuator > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,440,321 B2 - Document ID: US11440321B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/712,618 - Filed: 2019-12-12 - Published: 2021-06-17 - Granted: 2022-09-13 - Earliest claimed: 2019-12-12 - Assignees: Xerox Corporation - Applicants: Xerox Corporation - Inventors: Christopher T. Chungbin; Scott J. Vader; Zachary S. Vader; Kareem N. Tawil; William R. Harris; David A. Mantell; Viktor Sukhotskiy - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11440321B2 ## CPC - B41J 2/14: Structure thereof {only for on-demand ink jet heads} - B41J 2/14314: {Structure of ink jet print heads with electrostatically actuated membrane} - B22D 23/003: {Moulding by spraying metal on a surface} - B28B 1/001: {Rapid manufacturing of 3D objects by additive depositing, agglomerating or laminating of material (selective deposition modelling of metallic powder B22F10/00; rapid manufacturing of 3D objects in general and in particular of plastics B29C64/00)} - B29C 64/112: using individual droplets, e.g. from jetting heads - B29C 64/209: Heads; Nozzles - B33Y 10/00: Processes of additive manufacturing - B33Y 30/00: Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor - B33Y 70/00: Materials specially adapted for additive manufacturing - B41J 2202/04: Heads using conductive ink - B41J: TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS - B22D: CASTING OF METALS; CASTING OF OTHER SUBSTANCES BY THE SAME PROCESSES OR DEVICES (shaping of plastics or substances in a plastic state B29C; metallurgical processing, selection of substances to be added to metal C21, C22) - B28B: SHAPING CLAY OR OTHER CERAMIC COMPOSITIONS; SHAPING SLAG; SHAPING MIXTURES CONTAINING CEMENTITIOUS MATERIAL, e.g. PLASTER (foundry moulding B22C; working stone or stone-like material B28D; shaping of substances in a plastic state, in general B29C; making layered products not composed wholly of these substances B32B) - 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 (making preforms B29B11/00; making laminated products by combining previously unconnected layers which become one product whose layers will remain together B32B37/00 - B32B41/00) - B33Y: 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 ## Abstract A jetting assembly that can be used to print a high-temperature print material such as a metal or metal alloy, an aqueous ink, or another material, includes an actuator for heating a gas such as a non-volatile gas within a gas cavity. The actuator rapidly heats the gas within the gas cavity, which rapidly increases a volume of the gas, thereby applying a pressure to the print material within an expansion channel that is in fluid communication with the gas cavity. In turn, the print material within the expansion channel applies a pressure to the print material within a nozzle bore, which forces a drop of the print material from a nozzle. The jetting assembly further includes a supply inlet that supplies the print material to the expansion chamber and the nozzle bore, for example, from a reservoir. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A jetting assembly for ejecting a print material, comprising: a jetting assembly block, wherein the jetting assembly block defines: a nozzle bore terminating in a nozzle from which a print material is ejected; an expansion channel that transitions into the nozzle bore; a gas cavity that transitions into the expansion channel; and a supply inlet for supplying a print material to the expansion channel and the nozzle bore, wherein the expansion channel is separated from the nozzle bore at the supply inlet; and an actuator that is positioned within the gas cavity and configured to expand a gas within the gas cavity. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The jetting assembly of claim 1, further comprising a gas within the gas cavity and a print material within the expansion channel, the supply inlet, and the nozzle bore. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The jetting assembly of claim 2, wherein the print material is a molten metal or molten metal alloy. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The jetting assembly of claim 3, wherein the print material comprises at least one of copper, aluminum, lead, tin, zinc, iron, magnesium, nickel, titanium, gold, and silver. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The jetting assembly of claim 2, wherein the print material is an aqueous ink. ### Claim 6 (depends on 2) The jetting assembly of claim 2, wherein the print material comprises at least one of a solvent, a pigment, a polymer-based ink, a resin, an ultraviolet-cured polymer, glass, a ceramic, a binder, a ceramic precursor, or a polymer precursor. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The jetting assembly of claim 1, wherein the actuator comprises at least two electrodes positioned within the gas cavity and configured to generate an electrical discharge into the gas cavity. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The jetting assembly of claim 7, wherein one of the at least two electrodes comprises the print material. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The jetting assembly of claim 1, further comprising a gas within the gas cavity, wherein the gas comprises argon, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, helium, and combinations thereof. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The jetting assembly of claim 1, wherein the jetting assembly block further defines: a gas inlet in fluid communication with a gas supply and the gas cavity; and a gas exhaust in fluid communication with the gas supply and the gas cavity. ### Claim 11 A method for ejecting a print material from a jetting assembly, comprising: firing an actuator that is positioned within a gas cavity and to heat a volume of a gas within the gas cavity; increasing the volume of the gas responsive to the firing of the actuator; applying a pressure to a print material within an expansion channel using the volume of the gas that is increasing, wherein the expansion channel in in fluid communication with a nozzle bore and a nozzle; and ejecting a drop of the print material from the nozzle responsive to the firing of the actuator. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the ejecting of the drop of the print material ejects a molten metal or molten metal alloy. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the molten metal or metal alloy comprises at least one of copper, aluminum, lead, tin, zinc, iron, magnesium, nickel, titanium, gold, and silver. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the ejecting of the drop of the print material ejects an aqueous ink. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the ejecting of the drop of the print material ejects at least one of a solvent, a pigment, a polymer-based ink, a resin, an ultraviolet-cured polymer, glass, a ceramic, a binder, a ceramic precursor, or a polymer precursor. ### Claim 16 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the gas within the gas cavity comprises at least one of argon, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, helium, and combinations thereof. ### Claim 17 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the firing of the actuator comprises generating an electrical discharge into the gas cavity. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, wherein the firing of the actuator comprises generating the electrical discharge using at least two electrodes, wherein one of the at least two electrodes is the print material. ### Claim 19 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein a surface of the print material at an interface with the gas within the gas cavity maintains a roughly constant shape from the firing of the actuator to the ejecting of the drop of the print material from the nozzle. ### Claim 20 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11 wherein: the jetting assembly includes a block that defines a gas inlet in fluid communication with the gas cavity and a gas exhaust in fluid communication with the gas cavity and the gas inlet; and the method further comprises regulating the volume of the gas within the gas cavity by: injecting the gas from a gas source through the gas inlet into the gas cavity; and/or exhausting the gas from the gas cavity through the gas exhaust. ### Claim 21 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the jetting assembly comprises a plurality of nozzle bores terminating in a plurality of nozzles, and the method further comprises ejecting a plurality of drops of print material from the plurality of nozzles sequentially or simultaneously.