Method for printing three-dimensional parts with cyrstallization kinetics control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12064917-B2
Application number	US-202117474827-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 14, 2021
Priority date	Nov 21, 2012
Publication date	Aug 20, 2024
Grant date	Aug 20, 2024

Abstract

A method for printing a three-dimensional part with an additive manufacturing system, which includes providing a part material that compositionally has one or more semi-crystalline polymers and one or more secondary materials that are configured to retard crystallization of the one or more semi-crystalline polymers, where the one or more secondary materials are substantially miscible with the one or more semi-crystalline polymers. The method also includes melting the part material in the additive manufacturing system, forming at least a portion of a layer of the three-dimensional part from the melted part material in a build environment, and maintaining the build environment at an annealing temperature that is between a glass transition temperature of the part material and a cold crystallization temperature of the part material.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for printing a three-dimensional part in a layer-by-layer manner with an additive manufacturing system, the method comprising:
providing a part material compositionally including one or more semi-crystalline polyaryletherketone polymers and one or more amorphous polymers that are configured to retard crystallization of the one or more semi-crystalline polyaryletherketone polymers, wherein the one or more amorphous polymers are substantially miscible with the one or more semi-crystalline polyaryletherketone polymers;
melting the part material in the additive manufacturing system;
printing at least a portion of a layer of the three-dimensional part from the melted part material in a build environment; and
maintaining the build environment at a temperature that is below a cold crystallization temperature of the part material, such that a temperature of the portion of the layer is cooled to a temperature below the cold crystallization temperature while the amorphous polymer retards crystallization of the one or more semi-crystalline polyaryletherketone polymers, such that residual stresses in the portion of the layer are managed to substantially prevent curling.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more amorphous polymers comprises a blend of one or more polyphenylsulfones (PPSU), polysulfones (PSU), and/or polyethersulfones (PES).

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more amorphous polymers constitute from about 1% by weight to about 65% by weight of a combined weight of the one or more semi-crystalline polymers and the one or more amorphous polymers.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more amorphous polymers constitute from about 20% by weight to about 50% by weight of a combined weight of the one or more semi-crystalline polymers and the one or more amorphous polymers.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more semi-crystalline polyaryletherketones comprises semi-crystalline polyetherketoneketones, and wherein the one or more amorphous polymers comprise one or more amorphous polyetherketoneketones.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the one or more amorphous polyetherketoneketones constitute from about 30% by weight to about 90% by weight of a combined weight of the one or more semi-crystalline polymers and the one or more amorphous polymers.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the one or more amorphous polymers constitute from about 50% by weight to about 70% by weight of a combined weight of the one or more semi-crystalline polymers and the one or more amorphous polymers.

8. A method for printing a three-dimensional part from with an additive manufacturing system, the method comprising:
providing a part material that compositionally comprises one or more semi-crystalline polyaryletherketone polymers and one or more amorphous polymers that are substantially miscible with the one or more semi-crystalline polymers;
maintaining a build environment of the additive manufacturing system, at least in a deposition region of the build environment, at a temperature that is below a cold crystallization temperature of the part material;
feeding the part material as a continuous filament feedstock to a print head retained by the additive manufacturing system;
melting the part material in the print head;
extruding the melted part material from the print head; and
depositing the extruded part material in the deposition region in a layer-by-layer manner to form at least a portion of a layer of the three-dimensional part from the extruded part material, wherein a temperature of the portion of the layer is cooled to a temperature below the cold crystallization temperature while the amorphous polymer retards crystallization of the one or more semi-crystalline polyaryletherketone polymers, such that residual stresses in the portion of the layer are managed to substantially prevent curling.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more amorphous polymers is selected from the group consisting of polyphenylsulfones (PPSU), polysulfones (PSU), and/or polyethersulfones (PES) and combinations thereof.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the one or more amorphous polymers constitute from about 1% by weight to about 65% by weight of a combined weight of the one or more semi-crystalline polymers and the one or more amorphous polymers.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the one or more amorphous polymers constitute from about 20% by weight to about 50% by weight of a combined weight of the one or more semi-crystalline polymers and the one or more amorphous polymers.

12. The method of claim 8 , and further comprising selecting the temperature at least in a deposition region of the build environment to achieve a predetermined crystallinity level for the part material of the printed three-dimensional part.

13. The method of claim 8 , and further comprising performing a post-printing crystallization step on the printed three-dimensional part.

14. A method for printing a three-dimensional part with an additive manufacturing system, the method comprising:
providing a part material that compositionally comprises one or more semi-crystalline polyaryletherketone polymers and one or more amorphous polymers selected from the group consisting of polyphenylsulfones (PPSU), polysulfones (PSU), and/or polyethersulfones (PES) and combinations thereof that are substantially miscible with the one or more semi-crystalline polymers;
melting the part material in the additive manufacturing system;
forming layers of the three-dimensional part from the melted part material using an additive manufacturing technique, wherein the layers are formed in a region that is maintained at a temperature that is within 10° C. of a glass transition temperature of the part material such that residual stresses in the layer are managed to substantially prevent curling.

15. The method of claim 14 , and further comprising reheating the printed three-dimensional part to one or more temperatures that are within about 10° C. of a cold crystallization temperature of the part material.

16. The method of claim 14 , and further comprising reheating the printed three-dimensional part to one or more temperatures that are within about 5° C. of a cold crystallization temperature of the part material.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein reheating the printed three-dimensional part to the one or more temperatures is performed for at least about 30 minutes.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the reheating step is performed in a separate oven from the additive manufacturing system.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more amorphous polymers constitute from about 1% by weight to about 65% by weight of a combined weight of the one or more semi-crystalline polymers and the one or more amorphous polymers.

Assignees

• Stratasys Inc

Inventors

• Rodgers Luke M B
• Jaker Vittorio L

Classifications

• B29K2081/06

  PSU, i.e. polysulfones; PES, i.e. polyethersulfones or derivatives thereof · CPC title

• B29C64/00

  Additive manufacturing, i.e. manufacturing of three-dimensional [3D] objects by additive deposition, additive agglomeration or additive layering, e.g. by 3D printing, stereolithography or selective laser sintering · CPC title

• B29C64/112

  using individual droplets, e.g. from jetting heads · CPC title

• G03G15/225

  using contact-printing · CPC title

• B29K2995/0039

  Amorphous · CPC title