Magnetic encoding of physical objects in an additive manufacturing process

A method of encoding a physical object during additive manufacturing of the object, the method comprising:

• providing a computer model of the object that includes instructions to additively manufacture at least a portion of the object, and includes instructions to encode at least a portion of the object with information;
• additively manufacturing the object according to the model, wherein the object is at least partially formed by a plurality of voxels of material disposed at different spatial locations of the object along three-dimensions, each of the voxels having magnetic domains that are inducible with permanent magnetism via exposure to an external magnetic field;
• encoding the object with the information according to the model;
• wherein the encoding is performed during the additive manufacturing;
• and
• wherein the encoding includes exposing at least some of the voxels at the different spatial locations of the object to the external magnetic field, the external magnetic field having a magnetic vector direction and a magnetic vector intensity that induces permanent magnetism into the magnetic domains of the respectively exposed voxels, such that the magnetic domains configure and retain their magnetic vector orientation in the same direction as the magnetic vector direction of the external magnetic field and/or configure and retain their magnetic vector intensity proportional to the magnetic vector intensity of the external magnetic field,
• wherein, during the encoding, the magnetic vector direction and/or magnetic vector intensity of the external magnetic field is varied at the different spatial locations of the object to form a spatial array of different magnetic characteristics in the object that represents the encoded;
• and
• wherein the varying the external magnetic field includes varying the magnetic vector direction of the magnetic field, such that the respectively exposed voxels exhibit a magnetic vector orientation within a 4π steradian solid angle;
• wherein each respectively exposed voxel exhibits at least 2-bits, preferably at least 8-bits, of information, based upon:
• (i) the magnetic vector orientation of the magnetic domains within a 4π steradian solid angle of the voxel, (ii) the magnetic vector intensity of the magnetic domains of the voxel, and (iii) the spatial location of the voxel in the object represented in three dimensions.

A method of encoding a physical object during additive manufacturing of the object, the method comprising:

• providing a computer model of the object that includes instructions to additively manufacture at least a portion of the object, and includes instructions to encode at least a portion of the object with information;
• additively manufacturing the object according to the model, wherein the object is at least partially formed by a plurality of voxels of material disposed at different spatial locations of the object along three-dimensions, each of the voxels having magnetic domains that are inducible with permanent magnetism via exposure to an external magnetic field;
• and
• encoding the object with the information according to the model;
• wherein the encoding is performed during the additive manufacturing;
• and
• wherein the encoding includes exposing at least some of the voxels at the different spatial locations of the object to the external magnetic field, the external magnetic field having a magnetic vector direction and a magnetic vector intensity that induces permanent magnetism into the magnetic domains of the respectively exposed voxels, such that the magnetic domains configure and retain their magnetic vector orientation in the same direction as the magnetic vector direction of the external magnetic field and/or configure and retain their magnetic vector intensity proportional to the magnetic vector intensity of the external magnetic field, and
• wherein, during the encoding, the magnetic vector direction and/or magnetic vector intensity of the external magnetic field is varied at the different spatial locations of the object to form a spatial array of different magnetic characteristics in the object that represents the encoded;
• wherein the object is made of a non-metallic base material having metallic particles contained therein;
• wherein each voxel of the non-metallic base material exposed to the external magnetic field contains at least one metallic particle, each metallic particle having one or more of the magnetic domains that are induced with permanent magnetism via exposure to the external magnetic field;
• and
• wherein the non-metallic base material has a glass transition temperature;
• and
• wherein encoding during the additive manufacturing includes heating the voxels of material above the glass transition temperature to a flowable state, and then exposing the metallic particles in the respectively heated voxels to the external magnetic field, with cooling below the glass transition temperature causing the magnetic domains of the metallic particles to remain permanently configured with a magnetic vector orientation in the same direction as the external magnetic field and/or with a magnetic vector intensity proportional to the intensity of the external magnetic field.

A method of encoding a physical object during additive manufacturing of the object, the method comprising:

• providing a computer model of the object that includes instructions to additively manufacture at least a portion of the object, and includes instructions to encode at least a portion of the object with information;
• additively manufacturing the object according to the model, wherein the object is at least partially formed by a plurality of voxels of material disposed at different spatial locations of the object along three-dimensions, each of the voxels having magnetic domains that are inducible with permanent magnetism via exposure to an external magnetic field;
• and
• encoding the object with the information according to the model;
• wherein the encoding is performed during the additive manufacturing;
• wherein the encoding includes exposing at least some of the voxels at the different spatial locations of the object to the external magnetic field, the external magnetic field having a magnetic vector direction and a magnetic vector intensity that induces permanent magnetism into the magnetic domains of the respectively exposed voxels, such that the magnetic domains configure and retain their magnetic vector orientation in the same direction as the magnetic vector direction of the external magnetic field and/or configure and retain their magnetic vector intensity proportional to the magnetic vector intensity of the external magnetic field, and wherein, during the encoding, the magnetic vector direction and/or magnetic vector intensity of the external magnetic field is varied at the different spatial locations of the object to form a spatial array of different magnetic characteristics in the object that represents the encoded;
• and
• wherein the object is made of a metallic base material, and wherein the magnetic domains are part of magnetic grains forming the metallic base material.

A method of encoding a physical object during additive manufacturing of the object, the method comprising:

• providing a computer model of the object that includes instructions to additively manufacture at least a portion of the object, and includes instructions to encode at least a portion of the object with information;
• additively manufacturing the object according to the model, wherein the object is at least partially formed by a plurality of voxels of material disposed at different spatial locations of the object along three-dimensions, each of the voxels having magnetic domains that are inducible with permanent magnetism via exposure to an external magnetic field;
• and
• encoding the object with the information according to the model;
• wherein the encoding is performed during the additive manufacturing;
• and
• wherein the encoding includes exposing at least some of the voxels at the different spatial locations of the object to the external magnetic field, the external magnetic field having a magnetic vector direction and a magnetic vector intensity that induces permanent magnetism into the magnetic domains of the respectively exposed voxels, such that the magnetic domains configure and retain their magnetic vector orientation in the same direction as the magnetic vector direction of the external magnetic field and/or configure and retain their magnetic vector intensity proportional to the magnetic vector intensity of the external magnetic field,
• wherein, during the encoding, the magnetic vector direction and/or magnetic vector intensity of the external magnetic field is varied at the different spatial locations of the object to form a spatial array of different magnetic characteristics in the object that represents the encoded;
• wherein the magnetic domains configure and retain their magnetic vector intensity proportional to the magnetic vector intensity of the external magnetic field.