Powder deposition process utilizing vibratory mechanical energy

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016228990-A1
Application number	US-201514614621-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 5, 2015
Priority date	Feb 5, 2015
Publication date	Aug 11, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for depositing clad material ( 24 ) onto a substrate ( 10 ) by melting a layer of powdered material ( 16 ) using an energy beam ( 20 ), and also applying vibratory mechanical energy ( 27, 29 and/or 31 ). The vibratory mechanical energy may be applied before, during or after the melting and solidification of the powdered material in order to preheat the powder, to distribute powder over a top surface ( 18 ) of the substrate, to control the formation of dendrites in the clad material as the melt pool ( 22 ) solidifies, to remove slag, and/or to perform stress relief. Simultaneous application of beam energy and vibratory mechanical energy facilitates the continuous deposition of the clad material, including directionally solidified material.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A process comprising:
distributing a powdered material over a surface of a substrate; melting the powdered material with an energy beam; allowing the melted material to solidify on the substrate; and applying vibratory mechanical energy to the powdered material in contact with the substrate or to the substrate during at least one of the steps of distributing, melting and allowing to solidify.

2 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the powdered material is distributed over the surface by the application of the vibratory mechanical energy.

3 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the powdered material is distributed over the surface in a continuous manner by the application of the vibratory mechanical energy and the steps of melting and allowing to solidify are conducted continuously.

4 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the vibratory mechanical energy is applied in a manner effective to preheat the powdered material prior to the step of melting.

5 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the vibratory mechanical energy is applied to the melted material as it solidifies in a manner effective to break dendrites forming during the solidification.

6 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the vibratory mechanical energy is applied to the solidified material on the substrate in a manner effective to introduce stress relief.

7 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the powdered material comprises a flux material which forms a slag on the substrate, and further comprising applying the vibratory mechanical energy in a manner effective to release the slag from the substrate.

8 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the vibratory mechanical energy exhibits a frequency in at least one of the ranges of: up to 16 Hz; up to 400 Hz; and above 18 kHz.

9 . A process wherein layers of powdered material are distributed over a surface of a substrate and melted by an energy beam to deposit respective layers of clad material on the substrate, wherein the layers of powdered material are distributed over the surface by the application of mechanical vibrational energy to the powdered material in contact with the substrate.

10 . The process of claim 9 , wherein the mechanical vibrational energy is applied to the powdered material prior to and during the melting of the powdered material over the surface.

11 . The process of claim 9 , wherein the mechanical vibrational energy is imparted to the substrate.

12 . The process of claim 9 , wherein the mechanical vibrational energy is imparted to a bed of the powder material adjacent the substrate.

13 . The process of claim 12 , wherein the mechanical vibrational energy is imparted to the bed of powdered material by a probe immersed into the bed of powder.

14 . The process of claim 12 , wherein the mechanical vibrational energy is imparted to the bed of powdered material by vibrating a container of the bed of powder.

15 . The process of claim 9 , wherein the distribution of the powdered material and the melting by the energy beam are conducted simultaneously such that the layers of clad material are deposited on the substrate in a continuous manner.

16 . The process of claim 15 , further comprising controlling heat flow from melted material as it re-solidifies to form the clad material such that the clad material comprises a directionally solidified material.

17 . A process wherein a powdered material is melted with a laser beam and then allowed to solidify to form a deposit on a substrate, characterized by applying vibratory mechanical energy in addition to the laser beam.

18 . The process of claim 17 , further characterized by distributing the powdered material over the substrate by applying the vibratory mechanical energy prior to the step of melting the powdered material with the laser beam.

19 . The process of claim 17 , further characterized by applying the vibratory mechanical energy as the melted material is allowed to solidify.

20 . The process of claim 17 , further characterized by distributing the powdered material over the substrate in a continuous manner by applying the vibratory mechanical energy during the step of melting such that the deposit is formed in a continuous manner.

Assignees

• Siemens Energy Inc

Inventors

• Bruck Gerald J
• Kamel Ahmed

Classifications

• B22F12/13

  to preheat the material · CPC title

• B22F10/50

  Treatment of workpieces or articles during build-up, e.g. treatments applied to fused layers during build-up · CPC title

• B22F10/28

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

• B23K26/34 Primary

  Laser welding for purposes other than joining · CPC title

• B23K26/70 Primary

  Auxiliary operations or equipment · CPC title