Method of manufacture and predicting powder degredation in an additive manufacturing process
AssigneeLPW Technology Ltd
InventorBen Ferrar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of additive manufacture involves building a container 8 and a structure by fusing powder 12, 13, 14, such that the container contains the structure and unfused powder. The container 8 may be used in a method for predicting powder degradation in an additive manufacturing process. Containers containing different types of structure may be built to measure the effect of building different types of structures on powder degradation. A structure to be built may be characterised by classes of structural features it contains and information obtained used from building containers used to predict how building the structure will degrade powder.
Claims18
A method of manufacture comprising a step of causing an AM machine to build a container and a structure in a build process by fusing powder, such that the container contains the structure and unfused powder, wherein the method comprises analysing the unfused powder in the container to determine an extent of degradation of the powder caused by the build process;
- and using the extent of degradation to predict powder degradation in another build process.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.