Mold material, molding method, mold object, and molding apparatus
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorKoki Hirata
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A molding apparatus includes a heating section, a spreading section, a molding section, a drawing section and a curing section. The heating section which heats a mold material including particles and a binder agent which bonds together the particles, to a temperature equal to or higher than the melting point of the binder agent and forms a fluid mold material. The spreading section forms a mold layer by spreading the fluid mold material. The molding section layers the mold layers. The drawing section applies UV ink to a desired region of the mold layer. The curing section cures the UV ink applied to the desired region of the mold layer.
Claims7
A mold material adapted to be used in a molding method including applying liquid droplets to a desired region of a layer formed using the mold material, the mold material comprising:
- particles;
- and
- a thermoplastic binder which bonds together the particles, the thermoplastic binder including pieces having a thickness which is greater than a smallest gap among gaps between two adjacent particles and smaller than a largest gap among gaps between two adjacent particles, with each of the gaps being located on a line connecting a center of a first particle of two adjacent particles and a center of a second particle of the two adjacent particles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.