Controlling an intensity profile of an energy beam with a deformable mirror in additive manufacturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10307822-B2
Application number	US-201715655229-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 20, 2017
Priority date	Jul 28, 2016
Publication date	Jun 4, 2019
Grant date	Jun 4, 2019

Abstract

An additive manufacturing apparatus includes a platform, a dispenser to dispense layers of feed material on the platform, and a fusing system to direct an energy beam to fuse at least a portion of the outermost layer of feed material. The fusing system includes an energy source to emit the energy beam, a deformable mirror to receive the energy beam and reflect the energy beam, wherein a shape of the deformable mirror defines at least in part an intensity profile of the energy beam on the outermost layer of feed material, an actuator coupled to the deformable mirror, and a controller coupled to the actuator and configured to cause the actuator to deform the shape of the deformable mirror to adjust the intensity profile of the energy beam on the outermost layer of feed material in accordance to a desired profile.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An additive manufacturing apparatus comprising:
a platform;
a dispenser to dispense layers of feed material on the platform;
a fusing system to direct an energy beam toward an outermost layer of feed material on the platform to fuse at least a portion of the outermost layer of feed material, the fusing system comprising:
an energy source to emit the energy beam,
a deformable mirror to receive the energy beam and reflect the energy beam, wherein a shape of the deformable mirror defines at least in part an intensity profile of the energy beam on the outermost layer of feed material, and
an actuator coupled to the deformable mirror; and

a controller coupled to the actuator and configured to cause the actuator to deform the shape of the deformable mirror to adjust the intensity profile of the energy beam on the outermost layer of feed material in accordance to a desired profile.

2. The additive manufacturing apparatus of claim 1 , comprising a plurality of actuators independently operable by the controller to deform the shape of the deformable mirror.

3. The additive manufacturing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the actuators are independently operable by the controller to deform the shape of the deformable mirror to adjust a first dimension of the intensity profile of the energy beam on the outermost layer of feed material in the first dimension while maintaining a second dimension of the intensity profile of the energy beam.

4. The additive manufacturing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the deformable mirror is a first deformable mirror, and the fusing system further comprises a second deformable mirror to receive the energy beam and reflect the energy beam, wherein a shape of the second deformable mirror defines at least in part the intensity profile of the energy beam on the outermost layer of feed material, the shape of the deformable mirror being deformable to adjust the intensity profile of the energy beam on the outermost layer of feed material.

5. The additive manufacturing apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the first deformable mirror and second deformable mirror are configured such that the shape of the first deformable mirror defines the intensity profile of the energy beam on the outermost layer of feed material in a first dimension and the shape of the second deformable mirror defines the intensity profile of the energy beam on the outermost layer of feed material in a different second dimension.

6. The additive manufacturing apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the first dimension is perpendicular to the second dimension.

7. The additive manufacturing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a detector configured to measure one or more parameters of the portion of the outermost layer of feed material, and wherein the controller is configured to generate control signals to deform the shape of the deformable mirror based on one or more measured values of the one or more parameters of the portion of the outermost layer.

8. The additive manufacturing apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the fusing system is configured to direct the energy beam toward the outermost layer of feed material to cause a melt pool to form in the outermost layer of feed material.

9. The additive manufacturing apparatus of claim 8 , and wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of a temperature, a temperature profile, a shape, a size, or a depth of the melt pool.

10. The additive manufacturing apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the controller is configured to generate the control signals to deform the shape of the deformable mirror based on a desired value for the one or more parameters and a measured value of the one or more parameters.

11. The additive manufacturing apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to determine a propagation velocity or propagation direction of the melt pool based on measured values of the one or more parameters.

12. The additive manufacturing apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to generate control signals to deform the shape of the deformable mirror based on the propagation velocity or direction of the melt pool.

13. The additive manufacturing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an optical detector to detect an error in the intensity profile of the energy beam emitted by the energy source, wherein the controller is configured to generate control signals to deform the shape of the deformable mirror based on the error.

14. A fusing system for an additive manufacturing apparatus, the fusing system comprising:
an energy source configured to emit an energy beam to fuse at least a portion of an outermost layer of feed material on a platform;
a deformable mirror to receive the energy beam and reflect the energy beam, wherein a shape of the deformable mirror defines at least in part an intensity profile of the energy beam on the outermost layer of feed material;
an actuator coupled to the deformable mirror; and
a controller coupled to the actuator and configured to cause the actuator to deform the shape of the deformable mirror to adjust the intensity profile of the energy beam on the outermost layer of feed material in accordance to a desired profile.

15. A method of fabricating an object by additive manufacturing, comprising:
depositing a sequence of layers of feed material on a platform; and
fusing an outermost layer of feed material on the platform by
directing an energy beam toward the outermost layer of feed material, and
deforming a shape of a deformable mirror to adjust an intensity profile of the energy beam on the outermost layer of feed material in accordance to a desired profile.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein deforming the shape of the deformable mirror comprises deforming the shape of the deformable mirror to adjust a first dimension of the intensity profile of the energy beam on the outermost layer of feed material in the first dimension while maintaining a second dimension of the intensity profile of the energy beam.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein deforming the shape of deformable mirror comprises deforming the shape of the deformable mirror to adjust the intensity profile of the energy beam on the outermost layer of feed material in a first dimension, and deforming the shape of another deformable mirror to adjust the intensity profile of the energy beam on the outermost layer of feed material in a different second dimension.

18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising measuring one or more parameters of a portion of the outermost layer of feed material, and generating control signals to deform the shape of the deformable mirror based on one or more measured values of the one or more parameters of the portion of the outermost layer.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein directing the energy beam toward the outermost layer of feed material causes a melt pool to form in the outermost layer of feed material.

20. The method of claim 19 , and wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of a temperature, a temperature profile, a shape, a size, or a depth of the melt pool.

21. The method of claim 20 , comprising generating the control signals to deform the shape of the deformable mirror based on a desired value for the one or more parameters and a measured value of the one or more parameters.

22. The method of claim 19 , comprising determining a propagation velocity or propagation direction of the melt pool based on one or more measured values of the one or more parame

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Ng Hou T
• Naftali Ron
• Talbot Christopher G

Classifications

• B29C64/153 Primary

  using layers of powder being selectively joined, e.g. by selective laser sintering or melting · CPC title

• B22F12/90

  Means for process control, e.g. cameras or sensors · CPC title

• B22F12/44

  characterised by the configuration of the radiation means · CPC title

• B22F12/33

  translatory in the deposition plane · CPC title

• B22F10/368

  Temperature or temperature gradient, e.g. temperature of the melt pool · CPC title