Additive manufacturing
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorArthur H. BARNES
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In one example, a processor readable medium having instructions thereon that when executed cause a fusing system for an additive manufacturing machine to, during a first carriage pass, preheat build material in a layer of unfused build material; during the first carriage pass and/or during a second carriage pass, dispense a liquid fusing agent on to preheated unfused build material in the layer and then, during the second carriage pass, irradiate build material in the layer on which the fusing agent has been dispensed with a fusing light; and during a third carriage pass, irradiate the fused build material with the fusing light; and during a fourth carriage pass, irradiate the fused build material with the fusing light and then actively cool the fused build material.
Claims15
A fusing process for additive manufacturing, comprising:
- forming a first layer of unfused build material;
- fusing build material in the first layer in a pattern based on a first object slice;
- maintaining the fused build material in a molten state for at least 1 second;
- and then
- cooling the fused build material to a temperature at or below the crystallization temperature of the build material for less than 0.75 seconds to form the first object slice;
- forming a second layer of unfused build material on the first object slice;
- fusing build material in the second layer in a pattern based on a second object slice;
- maintaining the fused build material in the second layer in a molten state for at least 1 second;
- and then
- cooling the fused build material in the second layer to a temperature at or below the crystallization temperature of the build material for less than 0.75 seconds to form the second object slice;
- and
- repeating the forming, fusing, maintaining, and cooling for multiple subsequent layers and slices.
A processor readable medium having instructions thereon that when executed cause a fusing system for an additive manufacturing machine to:
- during a first carriage pass, preheat build material in a layer of unfused build material;
- during the first carriage pass and/or during a second carriage pass, dispense a liquid fusing agent on to preheated unfused build material in the layer and then, during the second carriage pass, irradiate build material in the layer on which the fusing agent has been dispensed with a fusing light;
- and
- during a third carriage pass, irradiate the fused build material with the fusing light;
- and
- during a fourth carriage pass, irradiate the fused build material with the fusing light and then actively cool the fused build material.
A fusing system for an additive manufacturing machine, comprising:
- a first carriage movable over a work area carrying a fusing lamp;
- a second carriage movable over the work area carrying an agent dispenser;
- a controller operatively connected to the first carriage, the fusing lamp, the second carriage and the agent dispenser to:
- with the first carriage moving over the work area, irradiate fused build material in a first layer of build material with the fusing lamp and form a second layer of unfused build material on the first layer;
- with the second carriage moving over the work area, dispense a liquid fusing agent on to build material in the second layer with the dispenser in a pattern;
- with the first carriage moving over the work area, irradiate the patterned build material in the second layer with the fusing lamp;
- and then
- with the first carriage moving over the work area, irradiate the patterned build material in the second layer again with the fusing lamp.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.