Inclusion of indicia in additive manufacturing
AssigneeUniversity of Louisville Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorsEdward Carl TACKETT, Timothy J. GORNET, Thomas L. STARR
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An indicia or marker is embedded in an object that includes a plurality of layers of material such as in an object formed by additive manufacture by forming at least one layer of a prism in a layer of the object, wherein the layer of the prism includes an aperture in the form of an identifier. The prism is densified to a density distinct from that of the remainder of the object. The aperture in the layer of the prism is filled with a powder material; a portion of which is preferably densified to a density distinct from that of the object and/or the prism, leaving a margin to prevent mixing of the materials of the object, prism and/or identifier during densification.
Claims18
A method of forming an indicia or marker within an additively manufactured object from fused powder, said method comprising steps of
- digitizing geometry of a prism portion of said indicia or marker,
- digitizing geometry of an identifier portion of said indicia or marker,
- performing Boolean subtraction of said digitized geometry of said identifier portion of said indicia or marker from said digitized geometry of said prism portion of said indicia or marker to yield a first signal for controlling printing of layers of said object,
- printing and densifying a layer of said object and a layer of said prism portion, said layer of said prism portion of said object having apertures or cavities corresponding to said geometry of said identifier portion of said indicia or marker, and
- filling said apertures or cavities with fusible powder material.
An indicia or marker for an object, wherein said object includes a plurality of layers, said indicia or marker including a layer of material formed in a said layer of said object, wherein a portion of said layer of material of said indicia is densified to a density different from a density of a remainder of said object.
An object including an embedded marker, said object being formed to include a plurality of layers and including an indicia or marker wherein said marker or indicia includes a layer of material formed in a layer of said object, wherein a portion of said layer of material of said indicia is densified to a density different from a density of a remainder of said object.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.