Powder bed materials

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11845128-B2
Application number	US-201816605423-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 8, 2018
Priority date	Jun 8, 2018
Publication date	Dec 19, 2023
Grant date	Dec 19, 2023

Abstract

A powder bed material can include from 80 wt % to 100 wt % metal particles having a D50 particle size distribution value from 4 μm to 150 μm. From 10 wt % to 100 wt % of the metal particles can be surface-activated metal particles having in intact inner volume and an outer volume with structural defects. The structural defects can exhibit an average surface grain density of 50,000 to 5,000,000 per mm 2 .

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A powder bed material, comprising:
80 wt % to 100 wt % metal particles having a D50 particle size distribution value from 4 μm to 150 μm,
wherein 10 wt % to 90 wt % of the metal particles have an average surface grain density of 20,000 per mm 2 or less, and
wherein 10 wt % to 90 wt % of the metal particles are surface-activated to have an outer volume with increased structural defects compared to an inner volume and an average surface grain density of from 60,000 per mm 2 to 120,000 per mm 2 .

2. The powder bed material of claim 1 , wherein the metal particles are elemental metals or alloys of aluminum, titanium, copper, cobalt, chromium, nickel, vanadium, tungsten, tantalum, molybdenum, magnesium, gold, silver, iron, stainless-steel, steel, or an admixture thereof.

3. The powder bed material of claim 1 , wherein the structural defects are introduced by flash heating the metal particles with from 1 to 10 pulses of light energy at from 15 J/cm 2 to 50 J/cm 2 .

4. The powder bed material of claim 1 , wherein the metal particles having an average surface grain density of 20,000 per mm 2 or less are made of the same metal as the surface-activated metal particles.

5. The powder bed material of claim 1 , wherein 80 wt % to 90 wt % of the metal particles are surface activated metal particles.

6. The powder bed material of claim 1 , wherein the D50 particle size distribution value of the metal particles ranges from 20 μm to 100 μm.

7. The powder bed material of claim 1 , wherein the metal particles that are surface activated are flash-heated metal particles.

8. The powder bed material of claim 5 , wherein a balance of the metal particles has the average surface grain density of 20,000 per mm 2 or less.

9. A material set, comprising:
a powder bed material comprising 80 wt % to 100 wt % metal particles having a D50 particle size distribution value from 4 μm to 150 μm,
wherein 10 wt % to 90 wt % of the metal particles have an average surface grain density of 20,000 per mm 2 or less, and
wherein 10 wt % to 90 wt % of the metal particles are surface-activated metal particles having an intact inner volume and an outer volume with increased structural defects compared to the inner volume and an average surface grain density of from 60,000 per mm 2 to 120,000 per mm 2 ; and

a binder fluid to adhere a first portion of the powder bed material relative to a second portion of the powder bed material not in contact with the binder fluid.

10. The material set of claim 9 , wherein the binder fluid includes water and a polymer binder or a polymerizable binder.

11. The material set of claim 9 , wherein the binder fluid is stable at room temperature and includes water, dispersed metal oxide nanoparticles, and a reducing agent to reduce the dispersed metal oxide nanoparticles when heat is applied to the binder fluid.

12. The material set of claim 9 , wherein the structural defects are introduced by flash heating the metal particles with from 1 to 10 pulses of light energy at from 15 J/cm 2 to 50 J/cm 2 .

13. A method of three-dimensional printing, comprising:
spreading a powder bed material to form a powder layer having a thickness of from 20 μm to 400 μm, wherein the powder bed material includes 80 wt % to 100 wt % metal particles having a D50 particle size distribution value from 4 μm to 150 μm,
wherein 10 wt % to 90 wt % of the metal particles have an average surface grain density of 20,000 per mm 2 or less, and
wherein 10 wt % to 90 wt % of the metal particles are surface-activated metal particles having an intact inner volume and an outer volume with increased structural defects compared to the inner volume and an average surface grain density of from 60,000 per mm 2 to 120,000 per mm 2 ; and

selectively binding a first portion of the powder bed material to form a green layer within the powder layer; and
building up additional green layers by sequentially repeating the spreading and the selectively binding of the powder bed material until a green three-dimensional object is formed.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising heat fusing the green three-dimensional object to sinter or anneal the metal particles together.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the heat fusing starts at a temperature from 0.6 to 0.8 of the melting temperature of the metal particles.

16. A powder bed material, comprising:
80 wt % to 100 wt % metal particles having a D50 particle size distribution value from 4 μm to 150 μm,
wherein 80 wt % to 99 wt % of the metal particles are surface-activated to have an outer volume with increased structural defects compared to an inner volume and a surface grain density of from 50,000 per mm 2 to 5,000,000 per mm 2 , and
wherein a balance of the metal particles have an average surface grain density of 20,000 per mm 2 or less.

17. The powder bed material of claim 16 , wherein the metal particles are elemental metals or alloys of aluminum, titanium, copper, cobalt, chromium, nickel, vanadium, tungsten, tantalum, molybdenum, magnesium, gold, silver, iron, stainless-steel, steel, or an admixture thereof.

18. The powder bed material of claim 16 , wherein the D50 particle size distribution value of the metal particles ranges from 20 μm to 100 μm.

19. The powder bed material of claim 16 , wherein the metal particles that are surface activated are flash-heated metal particles or ball-milled metal particles.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Development Co

Inventors

• Jangam John Samuel Dilip
• Anthony Thomas
• Nauka Krzysztof
• Erickson Kristopher J

Classifications

• B22F10/14 Primary

  by jetting of binder onto a bed of metal powder · CPC title

• B22F1/05

  Metallic powder characterised by the size or surface area of the particles · CPC title

• B22F1/142

  Thermal or thermo-mechanical treatment · CPC title

• B22F9/04

  starting from solid material, e.g. by crushing, grinding or milling ({C22C1/1084 takes precedence}; crushing, grinding or milling, in general, see the relevant subclasses, e.g. B02C) · CPC title

• B33Y10/00 Primary

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title