Three-dimensional forming apparatus and three-dimensional forming method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016368053-A1
Application number	US-201615183585-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 15, 2016
Priority date	Jun 16, 2015
Publication date	Dec 22, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A three-dimensional forming apparatus includes: a stage; a material supply mechanism that supplies a sintered material in which metal powder and a binder are kneaded to a stage; a drying mechanism that dries the sintered material supplied from the material supply mechanism to the stage to form a dry sintered material; an energy radiation mechanism that supplies energy capable of sintering the dry sintered material; and a driving mechanism that is able to three-dimensionally move the material supply mechanism, the drying mechanism, and the energy radiation mechanism relative to the stage. The material supply mechanism includes a material ejection unit supplying a predetermined amount of the sintered material in a gravity direction. The energy radiation mechanism includes an energy radiation unit outputting the energy. The material ejection unit and the energy radiation unit are held in one holding mechanism.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A three-dimensional forming apparatus comprising:
a stage; a material supply mechanism that supplies a sintered material in which metal powder and a binder are kneaded to a stage; a drying mechanism that dries the sintered material supplied from the material supply mechanism to the stage to form a dry sintered material; an energy radiation mechanism that supplies energy capable of sintering the dry sintered material; and a driving mechanism that is able to three-dimensionally move the material supply mechanism, the drying mechanism, and the energy radiation mechanism relative to the stage, wherein the material supply mechanism includes a material ejection unit supplying a predetermined amount of the sintered material in a gravity direction, wherein the energy radiation mechanism includes an energy radiation unit outputting the energy, and wherein the material ejection unit and the energy radiation unit are held in one holding mechanism.

2 . The three-dimensional forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the energy radiation mechanism radiates the energy in a direction intersecting the gravity direction.

3 . The three-dimensional forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the material ejection unit ejects the sintered material in a liquid droplet form.

4 . The three-dimensional forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein a plurality of the energy radiation units are included.

5 . The three-dimensional forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the material supply mechanism includes a material supply unit supplying the sintered material up to the material ejection unit including at least a material ejection port facing the stage, and wherein a plurality of the material supply units are included and supply at least two kinds of the sintered materials with different compositions.

6 . The three-dimensional forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the energy radiation mechanism is a laser radiation mechanism.

7 . The three-dimensional forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the drying mechanism includes a temperature detection mechanism detecting temperature of the dry sintered material.

8 . A three-dimensional forming method of forming a three-dimensional fabricated object, the method comprising:
supplying a sintered material in which metal powder and a binder are kneaded to a desired shape; drying the sintered material supplied in the supplying of the sintered material to form a dry sintered material; forming a single layer by supplying energy capable of sintering the dry sintered material to the dry sintered material and sintering the dry sintered material; forming a second single layer in the forming of the single layer by stacking the second single layer on the first single layer formed in the forming of the single layer; and repeating the forming of the second single layer a predetermined number of times to form a three-dimensional fabricated object, wherein in the forming of the single layer, a predetermined formation region of the single layer is subjected to the sintering of the dry sintered material performed on a unit material with a liquid droplet form landed by ejecting the sintered material in the liquid droplet form in the supplying of the sintered material.

9 . The three-dimensional forming method according to claim 8 ,
wherein an ejection direction of the sintered material in the supplying of the sintered material is a gravity direction and a radiation direction of the energy in the sintering of the dry sintered material is a direction intersecting the gravity direction.

10 . The three-dimensional forming method according to claim 8 ,
wherein in the forming of the second single layer, a support portion supporting the single layer in a gravity direction is formed, and wherein the support portion is an unsintered portion to which the energy is not radiated in the sintering of the dry sintered material.

11 . The three-dimensional forming method according to claim 10 , further comprising:
removing the support portion.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Kamakura Tomoyuki

Classifications

• B22F12/90

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• B22F12/53

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• B22F12/45

  Two or more · CPC title