Selective laser melting / sintering using powdered flux
AssigneeSiemens Energy, Inc.
InventorsGerald J. Bruck, Ahmed Kamel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An additive manufacturing process (110) wherein a powder (116) including a superalloy material and flux is selectively melted in layers with a laser beam (124) to form a superalloy component (126). The flux performs a cleaning function to react with contaminants to float them to the surface of the melt to form a slag. The flux also provides a shielding function, thereby eliminating the need for an inert cover gas. The powder may be a mixture of alloy and flux particles, or it may be formed of composite alloy/flux particles.
Claims15
A process comprising:
- placing a first layer of powder comprising alloy material and flux material on a surface;
- indexing an energy beam across the first layer of powder to selectively melt a region of alloy under an overlying layer of slag;
- allowing the alloy and slag to solidify;
- removing the slag;
- and
- repeating the placing, indexing and removing steps with a pattern of indexing effective to form a desired component shape;
- wherein the alloy material comprises a superalloy composition beyond a zone of weldability defined on a graph of superalloys plotting titanium content verses aluminum content, wherein the zone of weldability is upper bounded by a line intersecting the titanium content axis at 6 wt. % and intersecting the aluminum content axis at 3 wt. %;
- and
- wherein the process is performed at an ambient room temperature without preheating the surface, and the slag acts as a blanket that causes the region of alloy to cool slowly and evenly.
An additive manufacturing process wherein the improvement comprises:
- selectively heating respective regions of successive layers of powder comprising alloy material and flux material to form molten and solidified regions of alloy covered by molten and solidified slag;
- and
- removing the solidified slag before heating each next successive layer;
- wherein the alloy material comprises a superalloy composition beyond a zone of weldability defined on a graph of superalloys plotting titanium content verses aluminum content, wherein the zone of weldability is upper bounded by a line intersecting the titanium content axis at 6 wt. % and intersecting the aluminum content axis at 3 wt. %;
- and
- wherein the process is performed without providing a protective cover of inert gas, and the slag shields the molten and solidified regions of alloy from the atmosphere.
A process comprising:
- forming a powder comprising a superalloy material and a flux material;
- using the powder in an additive manufacturing process to form a desired component shape in a sequence of layers;
- and
- removing slag from each layer before forming the next layer;
- wherein the alloy material comprises a superalloy composition beyond a zone of weldability defined on a graph of superalloys plotting titanium content verses aluminum content, wherein the zone of weldability is upper bounded by a line intersecting the titanium content axis at 6 wt. % and intersecting the aluminum content axis at 3 wt. %;
- wherein the slag provides a heat blanket that controls the heat input, and the flux is formulated to produce a shielding gas, wherein the process is performed without the use of an inert gas flow, hot box, or chill plate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.