Actinic activation article shaping system
OwnerMarc David Natterinventor
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OwnerMarc David Natterinventor
Estimating the term…
The three dimensional configuration of an article is generated from a plurality of sheets of polymer material having a base resin constituent, a reactive diluent constituent and a reaction modifying constituent which effects a latent change in chemical reactivity of the polymer material in an area of each sheet imaged with actinic radiation in the configuration of an incremental heighth of the article, successive sheets are exposed to actinic radiation corresponding to the configuration of successive incremental planar heighths of the article and are stacked in a matrix. The imaged areas of all sheets are thereafter simultaneously cured with heat or aging, the configuration of the article is separated from the remainder of the matrix by altering the dimensional stability of the uncured polymer material. The sheets may be initially positioned on a carrier web for transport through an apparatus for constructing the shape of an article. The apparatus includes an imaging station wherein successive sheets are exposed to actinic radiation and a stacking station wherein exposed sheets are stripped from the carrier web and placed in a stack to form the matrix.
A plurality of sheets of material for use in forming the three dimensional configuration of an article by exposing portions of each sheet to actinic radiation configured in the shape of an incremental heighth of the article to facilitate a change in the reactivity of the exposed portions of each sheet, stacking successive sheets to form a matrix, segregating the configuration of the article by effecting a change in a physical property of the exposed portions and separating the configuration of the article from the remainder of the matrix, each sheet comprising at least one layer of substantially uniform thickness, the one layer comprising a mixture of a polymer material, the sheets being positionable in a stack with successive sheets of the stack touching one another and with the exposed portions being in registration with the corresponding exposed portions of the preceding sheet, the mixture of polymer material comprising a base resin constituent, a reactive diluent constituent and reaction modifying means responsive to actinic radiation for effecting a change in the chemical reactivity of the polymer material in the exposed portions, in order to provide a subsequent curing of the polymer material which has undergone a change in chemical reactivity and a differential change in a physical property of the polymer material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.