Thermal stereolithography

An apparatus for forming a three-dimensional object on a layer-by-layer basis, comprising:

• means for supplying cross-sectional data descriptive of layers of the three-dimensional object;
• means for separately containing a building material and a support material, one of which is a selected material and the other of which is an unselected material, wherein the selected material is normally in a solid state and which is made flowable when maintained at a temperature at least as great as a flowable temperature;
• means for maintaining said selected material at a temperature at least as great as said flowable temperature thereby causing said selected material to be flowable;
• means for selectively dispensing said flowable selected material in a prescribed pattern, according to said cross-sectional data, into a building environment which is maintained at a temperature below said flowable temperature to form a layer having areas of solidified material;
• means for applying the unselected material, while in a flowable state, to regions adjacent to said areas of solidified material;
• means for removing at least one of the selected material or unselected material located above a plane defining a desired upper surface of the layer;
• and
• means for repeatedly operating the means for selectively dispensing, means for applying and means for removing a plurality of times to form the three-dimensional object from a plurality of adhered layers.

A method of forming a three-dimensional object on a layer-by-layer basis, comprising the steps of:

• supplying cross-sectional data descriptive of layers of the three-dimensional object;
• separately containing at least one building material and at least one support material, one of which is a selected material and the other of which is an unselected material, wherein the selected material is normally in a solid state and which is made flowable when maintained at a temperature at least as great as a flowable temperature, and the unselected material is contained in a flowable state;
• maintaining said selected material at a temperature at least as great as said flowable temperature thereby causing said selected material to be flowable;
• selectively dispensing said flowable selected material in a prescribed pattern, according to said cross-sectional data, into a building environment which is maintained at a temperature below said flowable temperature to form a layer having areas of solidified material;
• applying the unselected material to regions adjacent to said areas of solidified material;
• removing at least one of the selected or unselected material located above a plane defining a desired upper surface of the layer;
• repeating the selectively dispensing, applying and removing steps a plurality of times to form the three-dimensional object;
• and
• separating the building and support material.

An apparatus for forming a three-dimensional object on a layer-by-layer basis, comprising:

• means for supplying cross-sectional data descriptive of layers of the three-dimensional object;
• means for separately containing at least one building material and at least one support material, one of which is selected material and the other of which is an unselected material, wherein the selected material is normally in a solid state and which is made flowable when maintained at a temperature at least as great as a flowable temperature, and the unselected material is contained in a flowable state;
• means for maintaining said selected material at a temperature at least as great as said flowable temperature thereby causing said selected material to be flowable;
• means for selectively dispensing said flowable selected material in a prescribed pattern, according to said cross-sectional data, into a building environment which is maintained at a temperature below said flowable temperature to form a layer having areas of solidified material;
• means for applying the unselected material to regions adjacent to said areas of solidified material;
• means for removing at least one of the selected material or unselected material located above a plane defining a desired upper surface of the layer;
• means for repeatedly operating the means of selectively dispensing, applying and removing a plurality of times to form the three-dimensional object;
• and
• means for separating the building and support material.

A method of forming a three-dimensional object on a layer-by-layer basis, comprising the steps of:

• supplying cross-sectional data descriptive of layers of the three-dimensional object;
• containing at least one building material, wherein the building material is normally in a solid state and which is made flowable when maintained at a temperature at least as great as a flowable temperature;
• maintaining the building material at a temperature at least as great as the flowable temperature thereby causing the building material to be flowable;
• selectively dispensing the flowable building material in a prescribed pattern, according to the cross-sectional data, into a building environment which is maintained at a temperature below the flowable temperature to form a layer having areas of solidified material;
• repeating the selectively dispensing and removing steps a plurality of times to form the three-dimensional object from a plurality of adhered layers;
• and
• periodically removing the building material located beyond a desired surface level of at least some layers.