Vehicle component and method of constructing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10583871-B2
Application number	US-201615372601-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 8, 2016
Priority date	Dec 8, 2016
Publication date	Mar 10, 2020
Grant date	Mar 10, 2020

Abstract

A method of constructing a vehicle component includes depositing a layer of a first metal, extruding a filament of a second metal onto the layer, and depositing a second layer of the first metal on the filament.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of constructing a vehicle component, comprising: depositing a first layer of a first metal; laser sintering the first layer of the first metal; extruding a filament of a second metal onto a surface of the sintered layer; depositing a second layer of the first metal on the filament; and depositing a plurality of layers of the first metal and a plurality of filaments of the second metal to form a tube elongated along an axis, the tube defining a cavity elongated along the axis, wherein at least one of the filaments of the plurality of filaments is elongated along the axis; wherein each filament of the plurality of filaments is the sole filament disposed on the respective layer of the first metal; wherein the tube has an inner surface facing the cavity and an outer surface, and at least one filament of the plurality of filaments is disposed closer to the outer surface than the inner surface and at least one filament of the plurality of filaments is disposed closer to the inner surface than the outer surface.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein an elastic modulus of the second metal is higher than an elastic modulus of the first metal.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a density of the first metal is lower than a density of the second metal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first metal is one of aluminum and magnesium.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second metal is stainless steel.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising extruding each filament of the plurality of filaments by heating a nozzle and feeding a feed of the second metal through the nozzle.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each filament of the plurality of filaments has a substantially circular cross-section.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first layer and the second layer of the first metal extend around a surface area of the sole filament.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising extruding a second filament of the second metal on the second layer of the first metal and depositing a third layer of the first metal on the second filament.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising extruding each filament of the plurality of filaments along a longitudinal axis.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tube is a unitary construction.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, for each layer of the first metal, depositing the first metal as a powder and laser sintering the deposited powder.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising depositing the plurality of layers of the first metal to form a flange extending from the tube.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Faruque Mohammed Omar

Classifications

• B62D29/008

  predominantly of light alloys, e.g. extruded · CPC title

• B33Y10/00

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B22F5/106

  Tube or ring forms · CPC title

• B22F2007/045

  accompanied by fusion or impregnation · CPC title

• B62D21/04

  single longitudinal type · CPC title