Porous tools and methods of making the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10780498-B2
Application number	US-201816108657-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2018
Priority date	Aug 22, 2018
Publication date	Sep 22, 2020
Grant date	Sep 22, 2020

Abstract

A porous tool includes a mold body and an additively-manufactured film attached to a surface of the mold body. The film includes a porous layer and a nonporous support layer. The porous layer may include a surface having an array of surface pore openings, a network of interconnected passages in fluid communication with the surface pore openings, and one or more lateral edges that have an array of edge pore openings in fluid communication with the interconnected passages. Methods of forming a porous tool include depositing additive material on a build surface using a directed energy deposition system to form a film while simultaneously subtracting selected portions of the additive material from the film using laser ablation. Methods of forming a molded component include conforming a moldable material to a shape using a porous tool that includes a mold body and an additively-manufactured film, and evacuating outgas from the moldable material through a porous layer of the film.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a porous tool, the method comprising:
depositing additive material on a build surface using a directed energy deposition system to form a film while simultaneously subtracting selected portions of the additive material from the film using laser ablation to form a porous layer in the film, the porous layer comprising a network of interconnected passages, and wherein the porous tool comprises:
a mold body; and
an additively-manufactured film attached to a surface of the mold body, the additively-manufactured film formed by the depositing of additive material on the build surface, the film comprising a porous layer having a thickness of from 100 to 1,000 microns and a nonporous support layer having a thickness of from 1 to 10 millimeters, the porous layer comprising:
a surface having an array of surface pore openings;
a network of interconnected passages in fluid communication with the surface pore openings; and
one or more lateral edges comprising an array of edge pore openings in fluid communication with the interconnected passages.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous layer comprises:
a first layer of additive material comprising an array of pores that traverse through the first layer in the z-direction; and
a second layer of additive material comprising interconnected passages that traverse through the second layer in the x-direction and/or the y-direction, the interconnected passages in fluid communication with the array of pores.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the pores and/or the interconnected passages have an average cross-sectional width of from 1 to 25 microns.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous tool comprises:
a mold body, and the additively-manufactured film attached to the mold body, the additively-manufactured film either adhered to the mold body or integrally formed with the mold body.

5. A method of forming a porous tool, the method comprising:
depositing additive material on a build surface using a directed energy deposition system to form a film while simultaneously subtracting selected portions of the additive material from the film using laser ablation to form a porous layer in the film, the porous layer comprising a network of Interconnected passages, and wherein the porous tool comprises:
a mold body, and
an additively-manufactured film attached to a surface of the mold body, the additively-manufactured film formed by the depositing of additive material on the build surface, the film comprising a porous layer having a thickness of from 100 to 1,000 microns and a nonporous support layer having a thickness of from 1 to 10 millimeters; and
wherein the method further comprising forming a molded component using the porous tool, wherein forming the molded component using the porous tool comprises:
conforming one or more moldable materials to a shape using the porous tool; and
evacuating outgas from the one or more moldable materials through the porous layer of the film, the outgas entering the porous layer through an array of surface pore openings located at a surface of the film in contact with the one or more moldable materials, traversing the porous layer through a network of interconnected passages, and exiting the porous layer through an array of edge pore openings located at one or more lateral edges of the film.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein forming the molded component using the porous tool comprises:
conforming the one or more moldable materials into the shape of a shroud component for a turbomachine or into the shape of a turbine blade component for a turbomachine, the one or more moldable materials comprising a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) material, a polymeric matrix composite (PMC) material, and/or a superalloy.

7. A method of forming a porous tool comprising a mold body, a non-porous support structure on the mold body, and a porous structure on the non-porous support structure, the method comprising:
forming a non-porous support structure by depositing a layer of additive material using a directed energy deposition system;
forming an Intermediate porous layer by depositing an intermediate layer of additive material using the directed energy deposition system while simultaneously subtracting selected portions of the intermediate layer using laser ablation to form interconnected passages that traverse through the intermediate layer in the x-direction and/or the y-direction;
forming a surface porous layer by depositing a layer of additive material using the directed energy deposition system while simultaneously subtracting selected portions of the layer using laser ablation to form an array of pores that traverse through the surface layer in the z-direction, wherein the intermediate porous layer and the surface porous layer form the porous structure; and
finishing the porous structure to provide a lateral edge comprising an array of edge pore openings in fluid communication with the interconnected passages and an exterior surface comprising an array of surface pore openings in fluid communication with the array of pores in the surface layer, wherein the array of pores are in fluid communication with the interconnected passages, and
wherein one or more of the edge pore openings are aligned with one or more outgas vents positioned in the mold body.

8. The method of claim 7 , comprising:
forming the porous structure so as to include one or more contours configured to conform a moldable material to a shaped defined by the one or more contours.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the directed energy deposition system comprises a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system, a laser engineered net shape (LENS) system, an electron beam additive melting (EBAM) system, or a rapid plasma deposition (RPD) system.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the additive material comprises a metal or metal alloy, the metal or metal alloy comprising tungsten, aluminum, copper, cobalt, molybdenum, tantalum, titanium, and/or nickel.

11. The method of claim 7 ,
wherein the porous structure has a thickness of from 100 to 1,000 microns.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the non-porous support structure has a thickness of from 1 to 10 millimeters.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein the interconnected passages have an average cross-sectional width of from 1 to 25 microns.

14. The method of claim 7 , wherein the surface porous layer is formed on a build surface, the intermediate porous layer is formed on the surface porous layer, and the non-porous support structure is formed on the intermediate porous layer, and wherein the method further comprises separating the porous structure from the build surface prior to finishing the porous structure to provide the array of surface pore openings.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the mold body is formed by depositing additional additive material on the non-porous support structure using the directed energy deposition system, whereby the mold body, non-porous support structure and porous structure are integrally formed.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising adhering the non-porous support structure to the mold body.

17. The method of claim 7 , wherein the mold body is formed by depositing additional additive material using the directed energy deposition system, the non-porous support structure is formed on the mold body, the intermediate porous layer is formed on the non-porous support structure, and the surface porous layer Is formed on the intermediate porous layer, whereby the mold body, non-porous support structure and porous stru

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Cousineau Nolan Leander
• Sizemore Nathan Carl

Classifications

• B23K9/04 Primary

  Welding for other purposes than joining, e.g. built-up welding · CPC title

• B22F10/40

  Structures for supporting workpieces or articles during manufacture and removed afterwards · CPC title

• B22F12/63

  Rollers · CPC title

• B22F12/46

  with translatory movement · CPC title

• B22F10/32

  of the atmosphere, e.g. composition or pressure in a building chamber · CPC title