Method for laser-assisted manufacturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11534833-B2
Application number	US-202117366442-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 2, 2021
Priority date	Aug 23, 2017
Publication date	Dec 27, 2022
Grant date	Dec 27, 2022

Abstract

A laser-assisted microfluidics manufacturing process has been developed for the fabrication of additively manufactured structures. Roll-to-roll manufacturing is enhanced by the use of a laser-assisted electrospray printhead positioned above the flexible substrate. The laser electrospray printhead sprays microdroplets containing nanoparticles onto the substrate to form both thin-film and structural layers. As the substrate moves, the nanoparticles are sintered using a laser beam directed by the laser electrospray printhead onto the substrate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for laser-assisted manufacturing, the method comprising:
providing a laser-assisted electrospray printhead comprising a printhead body, wherein the printhead body comprises a reflective surface;
providing a laser beam from a laser source;
positioning the reflective surface of the printhead body to focus the laser beam onto a focal region above a deposition surface of a substrate;
forming one or more sintered thin film layers on the substrate using the laser-assisted electrospray printhead operating in a cone-jet spray mode; and
forming one or more sintered structural layers adjacent to the one or more sintered thin film layers using the laser-assisted electrospray printhead operating in a micro-dripping mode.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sintered thin film layers and the sintered structural layers are formed from a suspension selected from a microparticle suspension, a nanoparticle suspension, a biological tissues suspension, a microparticle powder, a nanoparticle powder and a biological tissue powder.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sintered structural layers are selected from 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional layers.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting an electric field of a power supply coupled to the laser-assisted electrospray printhead and a feed rate of material into the laser-assisted electrospray printhead to change the operation of the laser-assisted electrospray printhead from the cone-jet spray mode to the micro-dripping mode.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the one or more sintered thin film layers on the substrate using the laser-assisted electrospray printhead operating in the cone-jet spray mode further comprises:
spraying a suspension from the laser-assisted electrospray printhead while simultaneously moving the substrate in a longitudinal direction relative to the laser-assisted electrospray printhead, thereby forming a thin layer of the material on the substrate; and
laser sintering the material sprayed onto the substrate using a sintering laser beam.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the sintering laser beam forms a divergent laser sheet.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the one or more sintered structural layers adjacent to the one or more sintered thin film layers using the laser-assisted electrospray printhead operating in the micro-dripping mode further comprises:
ejecting droplets of material from the laser-assisted electrospray printhead;
heating the droplets with the laser beam in the focal region to form a paste of the material; and
depositing the paste of the material onto the deposition surface of the substrate.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein heating the droplets with the laser beam in the focal region to form a paste of material further comprises, heating the droplets to about 95% of the melting temperature of the material.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising, vibrating the substrate utilizing one or more ultrasonic sources to distribute the material in a predetermined pattern on the deposition surface of the substrate.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the printhead body further comprises an electrospray holder positioned within the printhead body and extending from the reflective surface forming an electrospray exit.

Assignees

• Univ Central Florida Res Found Inc

Inventors

• Kar Aravinda
• Kumar Ranganathan
• Castillo Orozco Eduardo

Classifications

• B33Y70/00

  Materials specially adapted for additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B22F10/10

  Formation of a green body · CPC title

• B33Y10/00

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B22F1/054

  Nanosized particles · CPC title

• B22F10/28

  Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM] · CPC title