Variable beam geometry laser-based powder bed fusion

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11224943-B2
Application number	US-201815914874-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2018
Priority date	Mar 7, 2018
Publication date	Jan 18, 2022
Grant date	Jan 18, 2022

Abstract

Systems and methods of adapting the geometrical shape of a laser beam in laser-based powder-bed fusion (PBF) are provided. An apparatus for laser-based powder-bed fusion includes a depositor that deposits a plurality of layers of a powder material. The apparatus further includes a laser beam source that generates a laser beam having a variable beam geometry. A laser application component applies the laser beam in one of a plurality of beam geometries to fuse the powder material to construct a build piece.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for additively manufacturing a build piece, comprising:
a depositor configured to deposit a layer of a powder material;
a laser beam source configured to generate a laser beam to fuse a portion of the layer of powder material during a scanning stage; and
a beam shaping component configured to shape a beam geometry of the laser beam during the scanning stage, wherein at a first time during the scanning stage the beam shaping component shapes the beam geometry into a first geometrical shape based on a first geometrical boundary of the build piece, and at a second time during the scanning stage the beam shaping component shapes the beam geometry into a second geometrical shape based on a second geometrical boundary of the build piece.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first and second geometrical boundaries are based on a design profile for the build piece.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the beam shaping component is further configured to shape the beam geometry based on an energy profile for the build piece.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least the first or second geometrical shape comprises a two-dimensional shape.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least the first or second geometrical shape comprises a line.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein a length of the line is variable based on an energy profile of the laser beam.

7. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the laser beam includes at least a first portion of the beam geometry and a second portion of the beam geometry, and the energy profile includes a first portion of the energy profile associated with the first portion of the beam geometry and a second portion of the energy profile associated with the second portion of the beam geometry, wherein the first portion of the energy profile is different from the second portion of the energy profile.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first portion of the energy profile and the second portion of the energy profile are configured based at least in part on a temperature profile.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the laser beam source is configured to provide a constant energy flux between the first portion of the energy profile and the second portion of the energy profile.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first portion of the energy profile is configured to preheat the powder material and the second portion of the energy profile is configured to fuse the powder material.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first portion of the energy profile is configured to fuse the powder material and the second portion of the energy profile is configured to reduce an energy flux to control cooling of the fused powder material.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a controller coupled to the laser beam source and configured to control a power density of the laser beam.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the beam shaping component is further configured to shape the beam geometry based on a temperature profile for the build piece.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the beam shaping component comprises at least one of each of a fixed optical element and a motorized optical element aligned to encompass the laser beam.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein at least one of the optical elements comprises a lens.

16. A method of additively manufacturing a build piece, comprising:
shaping a geometrical shape of a beam geometry of a laser beam into a first geometrical shape to form a first adapted laser beam such that a boundary of the first geometrical shape matches a boundary of a first geometry of the build piece;
applying the first adapted laser beam to fuse a first portion of powder material to form a first portion of the build piece;
changing the geometrical shape of the beam geometry of the laser beam from the first geometrical shape to a second geometrical shape to form a second adapted laser beam such that a boundary of the second geometrical shape matches a boundary of a second geometry of the build piece; and
applying the second adapted laser beam to fuse a second portion of powder material to form a second portion of the build piece.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein changing the geometrical shape further comprises obtaining an energy profile for the build piece, wherein the second adapted laser beam is formed based on the energy profile.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein at least the first or second geometrical shape comprises a two-dimensional shape.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first geometrical shape comprises a line, and applying the first adapted laser beam further comprises applying the first adapted laser beam in a direction perpendicular to a length of the line.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising varying a length of the line based on an energy profile of the first adapted laser beam.

21. The method of claim 16 , wherein at least the first or second adapted laser beam includes at least a first portion and a second portion, and an energy profile of the first portion is different than the energy profile of the second portion.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the energy profile of the first portion and the energy profile of the second portion are configured based at least in part on a temperature profile.

23. The method of claim 21 , wherein the energy profile of the first portion and the energy profile of the second portion are configured to provide a constant energy flux between the first portion and the second portion.

24. The method of claim 21 , wherein the first portion is configured to preheat the powder material and the second portion is configured to fuse the powder material.

25. The method of claim 21 , wherein the first portion is configured to fuse the powder material and the second portion is configured to reduce an energy flux to control cooling of the fused powder material.

26. The method of claim 16 , further comprising obtaining an overall geometry of the build piece and determining the first and second geometries of the build piece based on the overall geometry of the build piece.

27. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the beam shaping component is configured to shape the beam geometry into the first geometrical shape such that at least a portion of the first geometrical shape matches the first geometrical boundary of the build piece.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 , wherein the first geometrical shape is a line having a first length, and the second geometrical shape is a line having a second length, wherein the first and second lengths are different.

29. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least the first or second geometrical shape includes at least a line, a square, a rectangle, a triangle, or a polygon.

30. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least the first or second geometrical shape is an amorphous shape.

31. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least the first or second geometrical shape is an asymmetrical shape.

32. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first geometrical shape is a rectangle and the second geometrical shape is a triangle.

33. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first geometrical shape is a first amorphous shape and the second geometrical shape is a second amorphous shape.

Assignees

• Divergent Tech Inc

Inventors

• Yap Chor Yen

Classifications

• B22F12/49

  Scanners · CPC title

• B22F12/44

  characterised by the configuration of the radiation means · CPC title

• B22F10/364

  for post-heating, e.g. remelting · CPC title

• B22F10/362

  for preheating · CPC title

• B22F10/36

  of energy beam parameters · CPC title