Particulates and methods of making particulates

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10626503-B2
Application number	US-201615240790-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 18, 2016
Priority date	Aug 18, 2016
Publication date	Apr 21, 2020
Grant date	Apr 21, 2020

Abstract

A method of making an article using an additive manufacturing technique includes depositing a powder. The powder includes particles formed from an article material and having particle surfaces. A coating formed from a sacrificial coating is deposited over the particle surface. The sacrificial material has a composition that is different from the composition of the article material and is separated from the article material during fusing of the article material into a layer of an additively manufactured article.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of making an article, comprising:
depositing a powder, the powder comprising:
particles comprising an article material and having particle surfaces; and
particle coatings comprising a sacrificial material deposited over the particle surfaces, wherein the sacrificial material has a composition different from a composition of the article material, wherein depositing the coating includes (a) depositing a polymer over at least a portion of the particles surfaces, (b) disposing the coating particles in a build chamber, (c) converting the deposited precursor to form a carbonaceous, oxide, or nitride coating, and (d) separating the coating from the particulate in the build chamber;

separating the sacrificial material from the article material; and
fusing the article material to form a layer of an article.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein separating the sacrificial material comprises:
melting the article material; and
floating the sacrificial material in the molten article material or vaporizing the sacrificial material.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein fusing the article material comprises heating the sacrificial material and conducting heat from the sacrificial material into the article material.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
depositing additional powder over the separated sacrificial material;
separating sacrificial material from the additional powder; and
aggregating the sacrificial material underlying the additional powder with the sacrificial material separated from the additional powder.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 , wherein the article layer is a first article layer, and further comprising fusing the additional article material to form a second article layer, wherein fusing the second article layer requires less incident energy than fusing the first article layer per unit mass of article material.

6. A powder for use in an additive manufacturing technique, comprising:
a plurality of particles comprising an article material and having particle surfaces; and
particle coatings comprising a sacrificial material deposited over the particle surfaces, wherein the sacrificial material has a composition different from a composition of the article material, wherein depositing the coating includes (a) depositing a polymer over at least a portion of the particles surfaces, (b) disposing the coating particles in a build chamber, (c) converting the deposited precursor to form a carbonaceous, oxide, or nitride coating, and (d) separating the coating from the particulate in the build chamber.

7. The powder as recited in claim 6 , wherein the sacrificial material is insoluble in the article material.

8. The powder as recited in claim 6 , wherein the sacrificial material is less dense than the article material.

9. The powder as recited in claim 6 , wherein the sacrificial material has a reflectance that is less than a reflectance of the article material.

10. The powder as recited in claim 6 , wherein the sacrificial material has affinity for a contaminant that is lower than affinity for the contaminant of the article material.

11. The powder as recited in claim 6 , wherein the sacrificial material is less flammable than the article material.

12. The powder as recited in claim 6 , wherein the sacrificial material comprises one or more of a carbonaceous material, an oxide, and a nitride.

13. The powder as recited in claim 6 , wherein the article material comprises one or more of an oxide, a nitride, a carbide ceramic, glass, aluminum, titanium, copper, iron, nickel, cobalt, titanium, and alloys thereof.

14. A method of making a powder for an additive manufacturing technique, comprising:
receiving particles comprising an article material and having particle surfaces;
receiving a sacrificial material; and
depositing a coating comprising the sacrificial material over at least a portion of the particle surfaces, wherein depositing the coating includes (a) depositing a polymer over at least a portion of the particles surfaces, (b) disposing the coating particles in a build chamber, (c) converting the deposited precursor to form a carbonaceous, oxide, or nitride coating, and (d) separating the coating from the particulate in the build chamber.

15. The method of making a powder as recited in claim 14 , wherein depositing the coating comprises depositing the coating using a line of sight coating technique.

Assignees

• Hamilton Sundstrand Corp

Inventors

• Sharon John A
• She Ying
• Sheedy Paul
• Beals James T
• Jagdale Vijay Narayan

Classifications

• C04B35/653

  Processes involving a melting step · CPC title

• C04B35/56

  based on carbides {or oxycarbides (containing free metal binder C22C29/00)} · CPC title

• C04B35/62884

  by gas phase techniques · CPC title

• C04B2235/665

  Local sintering, e.g. laser sintering · CPC title

• C04B35/62839

  Carbon · CPC title