Multiple beam additive manufacturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017021455-A1
Application number	US-201615179661-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 10, 2016
Priority date	Jun 10, 2015
Publication date	Jan 26, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods for multiple beam additive manufacturing use multiple beams of light (e.g., laser light) to expose layers of powder material in selected regions until the powder material fuses to form voxels, which form build layers of a three-dimensional structure. The light may be generated from selected light sources and coupled into an array of optical fibers having output ends arranged in an optical head in at least one line such that multiple beams are sequentially directed by the optical head to the same powder region providing multiple beam sequential exposures (e.g., with pre-heating, melting and controlled cool down) to fuse the powder region. The multiple sequential beams may be moved using various techniques (e.g., by moving the optical head) and according to various scan patterns such that a plurality of fused regions form each build layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of a three-dimensional structure formed by a plurality of build layers, the method comprising:
providing an array of light sources and an array of optical fibers coupled to the array of light sources, respectively, and an optical head including output ends of the optical fibers, wherein the optical fiber output ends are arranged in at least one line; delivering powder layers of powder material on a powder bed support system that moves vertically and incrementally to accommodate each of the powder layers; and forming build layers of the three-dimensional structure in each of the powder layers of powder material by fusing powder regions to produce fused regions corresponding to voxels of the three-dimensional structure, wherein the fused regions of the powder material in each of the powder layers collectively form each of the respective build layers of the three-dimensional structure, wherein forming each of the build layers includes performing multiple beam sequential exposures with a varying intensity of light on a powder region to be fused in each powder layer, wherein performing each of the multiple beam sequential exposures includes generating light from light sources in the array of light sources and moving the line of the optical fiber output ends across the powder region such that beams of light are emitted from the optical fiber output ends and sequentially directed to the powder region to fuse the powder region.

2 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 1 wherein the multiple beam sequential exposures with varying intensity of light are formed by at least one pre-heating beam emitted from at least one of the optical fiber output ends at a beginning of the line to provide pre-heating, at least one melting beam emitted from at least one of the optical fiber output ends at a middle of the line to provide melting, and at least one cool down beam emitted from at least one of the optical fiber output ends at an end of the line to provide controlled cool down.

3 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 1 wherein the light sources include laser diodes.

4 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 3 wherein the output power of the laser diodes ranges from 10 W to 60 W to provide the varying intensity of light.

5 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 1 wherein the light sources include fiber lasers.

6 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 1 wherein the output ends of the optical fibers are arranged in a one-dimensional array in the optical head.

7 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 1 wherein the output ends of the optical fibers are arranged in a two-dimensional array in the optical head.

8 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 1 wherein the output ends of the optical fibers are arranged in a two-dimensional staggered array in the optical head.

9 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 1 wherein performing the multiple beam sequential exposures on each power region to be fused includes raster scanning the beams.

10 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 1 wherein the powder material includes a metal powder.

11 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 10 wherein the metal powder includes a Nickel-based superalloy powder.

12 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 10 wherein the metal powder includes an austenite nickel-chromium-based superalloy powder.

13 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 10 wherein the porosity of the three-dimensional structure is below 0.05 vol %.

14 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 1 wherein the optical head is configured to produce beam spots having a size in a range of 10 to 500 μm and a spacing in a range of 0 to 600 μm.

15 . A method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of a three-dimensional structure formed by a plurality of build layers, the method comprising:
delivering a powder layer of powder material to a powder bed support system; forming a build layer of the three-dimensional structure in the powder layer of powder material by fusing powder regions to produce fused regions that collectively form the build layer, wherein forming the build layer includes performing multiple beam sequential exposures on powder regions to be fused in each powder layer, wherein performing each of the multiple beam sequential exposures includes sequentially directing beams of light with varying intensity to the powder region to fuse the powder region; and repeating the delivering a powder layer and the forming a build layer in the powder layer to form each of the build layers of the three-dimensional structure and wherein each of the fused regions corresponds to a voxel of the three-dimensional structure.

16 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 15 wherein performing each of the multiple beam sequential exposures includes generating light from laser diodes to provide the beams of light.

17 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 15 wherein the beams of light form a one dimensional array of beam spots.

18 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 15 wherein the beams of light form a two-dimensional array of beam spots.

19 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 15 wherein the light beams produce beam spots having a size in a range of 10 to 500 μm and a spacing in a range of 0 to 600 μm.

20 . A method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of a three-dimensional structure, the method comprising:
providing an array of light sources and an array of optical fibers coupled to the array of light sources, respectively, and an optical head including output ends of the optical fibers, wherein the optical fiber output ends are arranged in at least one line; receiving build instructions for each build layer of the three-dimensional structure, the build instructions including at least optical head positioning data defining a position of the optical head and light source data identifying selected light sources and a power and exposure time for the selected light sources; and forming each build layer of the three-dimensional structure by moving the optical head relative to powder layers of powder material in accordance with the optical head positioning data while activating selected light sources in accordance with the light source data to provide multiple beam sequential exposures with a varying intensity of light on a selected powder region in each of the powder layers to fuse the powder material in the selected powder region, wherein the fused regions of the powder material in each of the layers form the build layers of the three-dimensional structure.

21 . The method for multiple beam additive manufacturing of claim 20 wherein the light source data includes data defining the power of the selected light sources to produce the varying intensity of light.

22 . A multiple beam additive manufacturing system comprising:
a powder bed support system for supporting a powder bed and a three-dimensional structure formed therein and for moving the powder bed vertically and incrementally to accommodate multiple powder layers of powder material; a powder d

Assignees

• Ipg Photonics Corp

Inventors

• Dallarosa Joseph
• O'Neill William
• Squires David
• Sparkes Martin
• Payne Andrew

Classifications

• B23K26/082 Primary

  Scanning systems, i.e. devices involving movement of the laser beam relative to the laser head · CPC title

• B29C64/268

  using laser beams; using electron beams [EB] · CPC title

• B29C64/277

  using multiple radiation means, e.g. micromirrors or multiple light-emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title

• B22F12/41

  characterised by the type, e.g. laser or electron beam · CPC title

• B22F10/36

  of energy beam parameters · CPC title