Utilization of magnetic particles to improve z-axis strength of 3D printed objects

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11400647-B2
Application number	US-202016818754-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2020
Priority date	Mar 13, 2020
Publication date	Aug 2, 2022
Grant date	Aug 2, 2022

Abstract

A method for improving z-axis strength of a 3D printed object is disclosed. For example, the method includes printing a three-dimensional (3D) object with a polymer and magnetic particles, heating the 3D object to a temperature at approximately a melting temperature of the polymer, and applying a magnetic field to the 3D object to locally move the magnetic particles in the polymer to generate heat and fuse the polymer around the magnetic particles to improve a z-axis strength of the 3D object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
printing a three-dimensional (3D) object with a print material comprising polymer and magnetic particles;
heating the 3D object to a temperature at approximately a melting temperature of the polymer; and
applying a magnetic field to the 3D object to locally move the magnetic particles in the polymer to generate heat and fuse the polymer around the magnetic particles to improve a z-axis strength of the 3D object, wherein the applying comprises oscillating the magnetic field to rotate the magnetic particles back and forth in accordance with a pattern of oscillation to create localized heat in various internal locations of the 3D object.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the printing comprises:
printing a layer of the 3D object with the polymer;
dispensing the magnetic particles on top of the layer; and
repeating the printing the layer and the dispensing until the 3D object is printed.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the printing is performed by a selective laser sintering (SLS) printer.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the magnetic particles are blended with the polymer to embed the magnetic particles into particles of the polymer.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the magnetic particles comprise 0.1-15 weight percent of the print material.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the magnetic particles comprise an average particle diameter of 1 nanometer to 5 microns.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the printing is performed using a fused deposition modeling (FDM) printer.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the magnetic particles are fused onto an extruded filament of the polymer during a drawing process.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the magnetic particles comprise 1-10 weight percent.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the magnetic particles comprise an average particle diameter of 10 nanometers to 10 microns.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic field is oscillated at a range of approximately 10 hertz to 500 megahertz.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a plurality of instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
printing a three-dimensional (3D) object with a print material comprising polymer and magnetic particles;
heating the 3D object to a temperature at approximately a melting temperature of the polymer; and
applying a magnetic field to the 3D object to locally move the magnetic particles in the polymer to generate heat and fuse the polymer around the magnetic particles to improve a z-axis strength of the 3D object, wherein the applying comprises oscillating the magnetic field to rotate the magnetic particles back and forth in accordance with a pattern of oscillation to create localized heat in various internal locations of the 3D object.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the printing comprises:
printing a layer of the 3D object with the polymer;
dispensing the magnetic particles on top of the layer; and
repeating the printing the layer and the dispensing until the 3D object is printed.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the magnetic particles are blended with the polymer to embed the magnetic particles into particles of the polymer.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the magnetic particles comprise 0.1-15 weight percent.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the magnetic particles comprise an average particle diameter of 1 nanometer to 5 microns.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the magnetic particles are fused onto an extruded filament of the polymer during a drawing process.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the magnetic particles comprise 1-10 weight percent of the print material.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the magnetic particles comprise an average particle diameter of 10 nanometers to 10 microns.

20. A method, comprising:
printing a three-dimensional (3D) object with a print material comprising polymer and magnetic particles, wherein the magnetic particles comprise an average particle diameter of 1 nanometer to 10 microns and comprise 0.1 to 15 weight percent of the print material;
heating the 3D object to a temperature at approximately a melting temperature of the polymer; and
applying an oscillating magnetic field to the 3D object to align the magnetic particles in the polymer and rotate the magnetic particles back and forth in accordance with a pattern of oscillation to generate heat that melts regions between layers of the 3D object to promote entanglement of polymer chains between the layers to improve a z-axis strength of the 3D object.

Assignees

• Xerox Corp

Inventors

• Lu Chunliang
• Wolfe Christopher
• Ianni John
• Mercandetti Mark
• Pawlak John
• Cheng Chieh-Min

Classifications

• B29C64/393

  for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes · CPC title

• B29C64/106 Primary

  using only liquids or viscous materials, e.g. depositing a continuous bead of viscous material · CPC title

• B29C64/118

  using filamentary material being melted, e.g. fused deposition modelling [FDM] · CPC title

• B29C64/295

  Heating elements · CPC title

• B29C64/188 Primary

  involving additional operations performed on the added layers, e.g. smoothing, grinding or thickness control (surface shaping B29C59/00; after-treatment of articles without altering their shape B29C71/00) · CPC title