Method for melting powder, comprising heating of the area adjacent to the bath

A method of fabricating a part, the method comprising:

• a) supplying a material in the form of powder particles;
• b) heating a first quantity of said powder to a temperature higher than a melting temperature of the powder with the help of a high energy beam, and forming, at a surface of a support, a first pool comprising the melted powder and a portion of the support;
• c) heating a second quantity of said powder to a temperature higher than the melting temperature with the help of said high energy beam, and forming, at the surface of the support, a second pool comprising the melted powder and a portion of the support downstream from the first pool;
• d) repeating step c) until a first layer of said part is formed on said support;
• e) heating an [n]th quantity of said powder to a temperature higher than the melting temperature with the help of a high energy beam, and forming an [n]th pool comprising in part the melted powder above a portion of said first layer;
• f) heating an [n+1]th quantity of said powder to a temperature higher the melting temperature with the help of said high energy beam, and forming an [n+1]th pool comprising in part the melted powder downstream from said [n]th pool above a portion of said first layer;
• g) repeating step f) so as to form a second layer of said part above said first layer;
• and
• h) repeating steps e) to g) for each layer situated above an already-formed layer until said part is substantially in its final shape;
• wherein, at least while forming each of the pools, auxiliary heating is used for heating the material situated in a zone adjacent to said pool, said zone comprising at least one region selected from an upstream region situated upstream from said pool and a downstream region situated downstream from said pool, to a temperature lying in the range one-fourth and four-fifths of said melting temperature.