Apparatus and method for forming an integral object from laminations

A method of forming an integral three-dimensional object from laminations, comprising the steps of:

• providing means for forming a material into a plurality of individually contoured laminations in shapes required for assembly in a pre-selected sequence into said three-dimensional object;
• providing means for controlling the operation of said lamination forming means to provide said individually contoured laminations for said three-dimensional object;
• entering data concerning said three-dimensional object into said operation controlling means and thereafter instructing said operation controlling means to operate said lamination forming means in a controlled manner so as to form said plurality of individually contoured laminations;
• and
• assembling said plurality of individually contoured laminations in said pre-selected sequence into the form of said three-dimensional object;
• said plurality of individually contoured laminations being assembled such that each of said individually contoured laminations is integrally bonded to the next adjacent of said individually contoured laminations to complete formation of said three-dimensional object.

A method of forming an integral three-dimensional object from laminations, comprising the steps of:

• positioning a platform in proximity to means for storing and supplying a powder based material;
• forming a layer of said powder based material of a predetermined thickness by bringing a quantity of said powder based material into contact with said platform;
• compressing said layer of said powder based material to cause said powder based material to be formed into a coherent mass;
• utilizing means for delivering concentrated energy to change a property of at least a portion of said layer of said powder based material to form an individually contoured lamination and to facilitate separation of the remainder of said layer of said powder based material from said individually contoured lamination;
• and
• repeating said layer forming, compressing and utilizing steps to form a plurality of said individually contoured laminations;
• each of said individually contoured laminations being integrally bonded to the next adjacent of said individually contoured laminations by at least one of said compressing and utilizing steps.