Multimaterial powder bed patterning for additive manufacturing method

An additive manufacturing system, comprising:

• an excitation source for producing an excitation signal;
• a reservoir for holding particles of dry, powdered granular material feedstock;
• a nozzle in communication with the reservoir for depositing granular material feedstock from the reservoir through the nozzle in a controlled fashion to form at least one layer of a part;
• an elongated element having a main body portion disposed within the nozzle, and a head portion positioned exteriorly of the nozzle;
• a transducer disposed adjacent the head portion of the elongated element, the transducer being longitudinally aligned with the excitation source;
• a syringe located within the nozzle, the syringe receiving the granular material feedstock and controllably releasing the granular material feedstock;
• and wherein the main body portion of the elongated element is disposed inside the syringe;
• wherein the excitation source disposed adjacent the nozzle for applying the excitation signal to the transducer to cause the elongated element to produce a vibratory motion of at least one of the nozzle or the granular material feedstock within the nozzle, to control both on and off flow of the granular material feedstock and a flow rate of the granular material feedstock, to produce a controlled release of the granular material feedstock from the nozzle as needed to pattern the granular material feedstock as necessary to form a patterned granular material feedstock layer of the part;
• and
• a setting subsystem configured to act on the patterned granular material feedstock to set the patterned granular material feedstock layer before proceeding to form a new subsequent layer of the part.