Breakable three dimensional (3d) printed molds
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsWei Huang, Gary J Dispoto
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Breakable three dimensional (3D) printed molds are disclosed. An example method for forming a mold having a cavity by creating a plurality of layers using an additive manufacturing process includes providing a build material; and controlling a fusion level of the build material separately for different layers of the plurality of layers to separately form the layers with a porosity corresponding to a target porosity.
Claims15
A method for forming a mold having a cavity by creating a plurality of layers using an additive manufacturing process, the method comprising:
- providing a build material;
- and
- controlling a fusion level of the build material separately for different layers of the plurality of layers to separately form the layers with a porosity corresponding to a target porosity.
A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a processor to at least:
- receive an image representative of a 3D printed mold;
- and
- determine a target porosity of the 3D printed mold;
- for individual layers of the 3D printed mold:
- determine an amount of build material to be dispensed by a build material dispenser of a 3D printer;
- and
- define a porosity of the individual layers in accordance with the target porosity, by determining at least one of:
- a first amount of a fusing agent to be dispensed by a fusing agent dispenser of the 3D printer;
- a second amount of detailing agent to be dispensed by a detailing agent dispenser of the 3D printer on at least a portion of the build material or the fusing agent;
- or
- an amount of energy to be applied to the build material, the fusing agent and the detailing agent, via an energy source of the 3D printer.
A workstation for printing a 3D printed mold via a plurality of layers, the workstation comprising:
- a build material dispenser to dispense a build material on a support bed;
- a fusing agent dispenser to dispense a fusing agent on the build material;
- and
- a controller to:
- receive a print command representative of the 3D printed mold;
- determine a target porosity of the 3D printed mold;
- and
- for individual layers of the 3D printed mold:
- cause the build material dispenser to dispense the build material;
- cause the fusing agent dispenser to dispense an amount of the fusing agent on the build material, the amount of the fusing agent corresponding to the target porosity;
- and
- control an energy source to apply energy to the build material and the fusing agent to form the individual layers with a porosity that is based on the target porosity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.