Three-dimensional printing with thermoplastic elastomeric particles and lower alkyldiol organic co-solvents

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12528958-B2
Application number	US-202017908713-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2020
Priority date	Mar 31, 2020
Publication date	Jan 20, 2026
Grant date	Jan 20, 2026

Abstract

A three-dimensional printing kit can include a polymeric build material including thermoplastic elastomeric particles having a D50 particle size from about 2 μm to about 150 μm, and a fusing agent. The fusing agent can include water, from about 5 wt % to about 40 wt % lower alkyldiol organic co-solvent, and a radiation absorber to generate heat from absorbed electromagnetic radiation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A three-dimensional printing kit, consisting of:
a polymeric build material consisting of thermoplastic elastomeric particles having a D50 particle size ranging from about 2 μm to about 150 μm, wherein the thermoplastic elastomeric particles are selected from the group consisting of thermoplastic elastomeric polyamide particles, thermoplastic elastomeric polyester particles, copolymers thereof, and mixtures thereof, and wherein the thermoplastic elastomeric particles include block copolymers with a polyol soft-segment block; and a fusing agent including water, from about 5 wt % to about 40 wt % of a lower alkyldiol organic co-solvent, and a radiation absorber to generate heat from absorbed electromagnetic radiation.

2 . The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , wherein the lower alkyldiol organic co-solvent is a C2 to C8 alkyldiol with two hydroxyl groups.

3 . The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , wherein the lower alkyldiol organic co-solvent is a C4 to C6 straight-chained alkyldiol with two terminal hydroxyl groups.

4 . The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , wherein the radiation absorber is present in the fusing agent in an amount ranging from about 0.1 wt % to about 10 wt % and is selected from the group consisting of carbon black, a metal dithiolene complex, a near-infrared absorbing dye, a near-infrared absorbing pigment, metal nanoparticles, a conjugated polymer, and a combination thereof.

5 . The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , wherein the fusing agent is devoid of lactam organic co-solvents.

6 . A method of printing a three-dimensional object utilizing the three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , the method comprising:
iteratively applying individual polymeric build material layers consisting of the thermoplastic elastomeric particles; based on a three-dimensional object model, iteratively and selectively dispensing the fusing agent onto the individual polymeric build material layers; and iteratively exposing the individual polymeric build material layers with the fusing agent dispensed thereon to electromagnetic radiation to selectively fuse the thermoplastic elastomeric particles of the polymeric build material in contact with the radiation absorber of the fusing agent and to form a fused three-dimensional object.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the lower alkyldiol organic co-solvent of the fusing agent is a C2 to C8 alkyldiol with two hydroxyl groups.

8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the lower alkyldiol organic co-solvent of the fusing agent is applied to the individual polymeric build material layers at a lower alkyldiol organic co-solvent to polymeric build material weight ratio from about 1:180 to about 2:45.

9 . A three-dimensional printing system utilizing the three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , the three-dimensional printing system comprising:
a build material supply containing the polymeric build material; and a fluid applicator fluidly coupled or coupleable to the fusing agent and for iteratively applying the fusing agent.

10 . The three-dimensional printing system of claim 9 , further comprising an electromagnetic radiation source positioned to provide electromagnetic radiation to the layers of the polymeric build material having the fusing agent applied thereto.

11 . The three-dimensional printing system of claim 9 , wherein the lower alkyldiol organic co-solvent of the fusing agent is a C2 to C8 alkyldiol with two hydroxyl groups.

12 . The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic elastomeric particles have a D50 particle size ranging from about 125 μm to about 150 μm.

13 . The three-dimensional printing kit of 1 , wherein the fusing agent has a pH ranging from 9 to 9.3.

14 . The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , wherein the fusing agent consists of the water, the lower alkyldiol organic co-solvent, and the radiation absorber.

15 . The three-dimensional printing system of claim 9 , further comprising:
an electromagnetic radiation source; and a three-dimensional object model, executable by a controller, to:
utilize the build material supply and the fluid applicator to iteratively form at least one layer of the polymeric build material; and
utilize the electromagnetic radiation source to apply energy to the at least one layer to form a three-dimensional object.

16 . A three-dimensional printing kit, comprising:
a polymeric build material consisting of particles of a thermoplastic elastomeric polyamide block copolymer with polyol blocks, the particles having a D50 particle size ranging from about 50 μm to about 80 μm; and a fusing agent including water, 20 wt % of 1,5-pentanediol, and a radiation absorber to generate heat from absorbed electromagnetic radiation.

17 . The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 16 , wherein the polymeric build material is free of a plasticizer.

18 . The three-dimensional printing kit of claim 1 , wherein the fusing agent is devoid of a lactam organic co-solvent.

Assignees

• Peridot Print Llc

Inventors

• Discekici Emre Hiro
• Liu Qin
• Chen Tienteh
• Woodruff Shannon Reuben

Classifications

• B41J11/00216

  using infrared [IR] radiation or microwaves · CPC title

• B41J11/0021

  using irradiation · CPC title

• B41J2/14016

  Structure of bubble jet print heads · CPC title

• B29K2105/251

  Particles, powder or granules (expandable particles B29K2105/046) · CPC title

• B41J2/14201

  Structure of print heads with piezoelectric elements · CPC title