Additive manufacture of electrically conductive materials

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10265771-B2
Application number	US-201514936428-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2015
Priority date	Nov 9, 2015
Publication date	Apr 23, 2019
Grant date	Apr 23, 2019

Abstract

A method of additive manufacturing includes depositing a layer of absorptive material onto a workpiece, depositing a layer of additive manufacturing stock powder onto the workpiece, and fusing the stock powder to the workpiece using a focused energy source at a wavelength wherein the absorptive material has a higher absorptivity at the wavelength of the focused energy source than the absorptivity of the stock powder at that wavelength. The focused energy source can be a laser, e.g., with a 1064 nm wavelength, for example.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of additive manufacturing comprising:
depositing a layer of absorptive material onto a workpiece;
depositing a layer of metallic additive manufacturing stock powder onto the workpiece; and
fusing the stock powder to the workpiece using a focused energy source at a wavelength wherein the absorptive material has a higher absorptivity at the wavelength of the focused energy source than the absorptivity of the stock powder at that wavelength, wherein depositing the layer of additive manufacturing stock powder includes depositing the layer of additive manufacturing stock powder after depositing the layer of absorptive material to coat the absorptive material with the layer of additive manufacturing stock powder.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
successively depositing the layers of the absorptive material and the stock powder and fusing each successive layer of the stock powder to the workpiece to form a multi-layer powder bed fusion component.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the multi-layer powder bed fusion component includes an electrically conductive material of greater than 95% purity.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 , wherein the electrically conductive material includes at least one of copper, aluminum or a noble metal.

5. The method as recited in claim 3 , wherein the electrically conductive material includes copper of greater than 99.9% purity.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein focused energy source is a laser that has a 1064 nm wavelength.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein depositing the layer of stock powder includes depositing the layer of the stock powder to a thickness in the range of 10 to 200 microns, inclusive.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein depositing the layer of absorptive material includes depositing the layer of absorptive material to a thickness of less than or equal to about 9 microns.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising oxidizing the workpiece after fusing the stock powder thereto to remove residual from the absorptive material from the workpiece.

10. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the absorptive material includes at least one of graphite, carbon black, or graphene.

11. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising controlling the thickness of the absorptive material layer with a recoater blade or sprayer.

12. A method of additive manufacturing comprising:
depositing a layer of absorptive material onto a workpiece;
depositing a layer of metallic additive manufacturing stock powder onto the workpiece; and
fusing the stock powder to the workpiece using a focused energy source at a wavelength wherein the absorptive material has a higher absorptivity at the wavelength of the focused energy source than the absorptivity of the stock powder at that wavelength, further comprising oxidizing the workpiece after fusing the stock powder thereto to remove residual from the absorptive material from the workpiece further comprising reducing an oxide layer from the workpiece after oxidizing.

13. The method as recited in claim 12 , wherein depositing the layer of absorptive material includes depositing the layer of absorptive material after depositing the layer of additive manufacturing stock powder to coat the additive manufacturing stock powder with the absorptive material.

14. A method of additive manufacturing comprising:
depositing a layer of absorptive material onto a workpiece;
depositing a layer of metallic additive manufacturing stock powder onto the workpiece; and
fusing the stock powder to the workpiece using a focused energy source at a wavelength wherein the absorptive material has a higher absorptivity at the wavelength of the focused energy source than the absorptivity of the stock powder at that wavelength, further comprising oxidizing the workpiece after fusing the stock powder thereto to remove residual from the absorptive material from the workpiece, further comprising:
successively depositing the layers of the absorptive material and the stock powder, fusing each successive layer of the stock powder to the workpiece, oxidizing the workpiece after fusing each layer, and reducing the oxide from the workpiece each time after oxidizing to form a multi-layer powder bed fusion component.

Assignees

• Delavan Inc

Inventors

• Jagdale Vijay
• El-Wardany Tahany I
• Schmidt Wayde R

Classifications

• B22F3/1003 Primary

  Use of special medium during sintering, e.g. sintering aid · CPC title

• B22F12/67

  Blades · CPC title

• B22F12/55

  Two or more means for feeding material · CPC title

• B22F12/41

  characterised by the type, e.g. laser or electron beam · CPC title

• B22F10/50

  Treatment of workpieces or articles during build-up, e.g. treatments applied to fused layers during build-up · CPC title