Method and apparatus for manufacturing a three-dimensional object by additive layer manufacturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018200959-A1
Application number	US-201815869427-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 12, 2018
Priority date	Jan 13, 2017
Publication date	Jul 19, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a three-dimensional object which successively applies layers of material in powder form one on top of the other, wherein the first layer is applied to a support. Prior to providing the subsequent layer, each layer is irradiated selectively in a portion of the layer corresponding to a three-dimensional object being manufactured and wherein the irradiation is carried out in such a manner that the material is melted locally in the corresponding portions. The portions are each irradiated multiple times during multiple spaced time intervals. Operating parameters of the irradiation device ( 12 ) cause the polymer material to reach a melting temperature only during a second or a subsequent time interval. The energy introduced during each time interval is insufficient to heat the polymer material from a starting temperature to the melting temperature of the polymer material.

First claim

The invention is:

1 . A method of manufacturing a three-dimensional object by additive layer manufacturing, comprising the following steps:
successively providing a plurality of layers of material in powder form, one on top of the other, on a support, wherein the material in powder form is or comprises polymer material, and irradiating each of the plurality of layers, prior to providing a subsequent layer of the plurality of layers, with at least one laser beam or particle beam using at least one irradiation device, wherein each of the plurality of layers is irradiated selectively only in a portion of the layer corresponding to the three-dimensional object being manufactured and wherein the irradiation is carried out in such a manner that the material is melted locally in the portions, wherein a temperature of the plurality of layers is controlled such that prior to irradiation of each layer the respective layer has a starting temperature which is in a range from a glass transition temperature of the polymer material to 30% above the glass transition temperature, and wherein for each layer of the plurality of layers the irradiation is carried out in such a manner that each location of the portion of the layer corresponding to the three-dimensional object being manufactured is irradiated multiple times during multiple spaced time intervals associated with the respective location, wherein operating parameters of the at least one irradiation device are chosen such that in each of the locations the polymer material reaches the melting temperature only during or after the second or a subsequent one of the time intervals associated with the respective location and that in each of the locations the energy introduced during each of the associated time intervals by the at least one laser beam or particle beam is insufficient to heat the polymer material from the starting temperature to the melting temperature of the polymer material.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the locations is irradiated at least three times, and wherein the operating parameters of the at least one irradiation device are chosen such that in each of the locations the polymer material reaches the melting temperature during or after the penultimate or an earlier one of the time intervals associated with the respective location and is already molten before the beginning of the later one or ones of the time intervals associated with the respective location.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein for each of the layers the irradiation is carried out by scanning the at least one laser beam or particle beam over those portions of the layer corresponding to the three-dimensional object being manufactured in such a manner that for each of the locations and during each of the associated time intervals a laser beam or particle beam of the at least one laser beam or particle beam moves over the respective location in a defined movement direction, wherein for each of the locations at least two different movement directions are used for different ones of the associated time intervals.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein for each of the locations different movement directions are used for each two successive ones of the time intervals associated with the respective location.

5 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein for each of the locations the at least two different movement directions comprise a first movement direction and a second movement direction oriented at an angle of from larger than 0° to 90° with respect to the first movement direction.

6 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein for each of the plurality of layers the scanning of the at least one laser beam or particle beam comprises a plurality of separate scanning operations, during each of which a laser beam or particle beam of the at least one laser beam or particle beam is moved in a respective defined movement pattern over all of the locations or a contiguous subset of the locations, such that for each of the locations the irradiations during the respective time intervals are carried out during different ones of the scanning operations, wherein for each of the locations the respective scanning operations comprise scanning operations having at least two different movement patterns.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein for each of the locations the respective scanning operations comprise a first scanning operation having a first movement pattern and a second scanning operation having a second movement pattern which is a rotated version of the first movement pattern.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one irradiation device is at least one laser which is selected from a group consisting of CO2 lasers, a diode lasers and fiber optic lasers.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the irradiation devices includes two or more irradiation devices each are utilized for the irradiation of each of the plurality of layers.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein for each of the plurality layers and for each of the locations different operating parameters of the at least one irradiation device are used during different ones of the time intervals associated with the respective location.

11 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the operating parameters of the at least one irradiation device comprise laser power or particle beam power, intensity distribution profile, spacing between adjacent paths of a movement pattern of the respective laser beam or particle beam, speed of movement of the laser beam or particle beam and/or pulse duration of a pulsed laser beam or particle beam.

12 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the polymer material is or comprises material selected from a group consisting of PA6, PA11, PA12, PARA, PPS, PBT, PAEK, including PEEK, PEK and PEKK, and/or wherein the material in powder form comprises the polymer material as matrix into which glass, carbon black, carbon fiber, graphene and/or aluminum is embedded.

13 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the polymer material has a crystallization half time of at least three minutes.

14 . An apparatus for manufacturing a three-dimensional object by additive layer manufacturing, the apparatus comprising:
a housing defining a chamber, a support disposed inside the chamber, a powder delivery controller adapted for providing the plurality of layers of material in powder form one on top of the other on the support, a temperature controller adapted for selectively controlling the temperature of each of the layers prior to irradiation thereof, at least one irradiation device adapted for irradiating each of the layers provided by the powder delivery controller on the support with a respective laser beam or particle beam, a beam movement controller adapted for selectively irradiating only portions of each of the layers provided by the powder delivery controller on the support, a non-transitory storage device configured to store a digital representation of a three-dimensional object in the form of a plurality of layers, and a control unit operatively coupled to the powder delivery controller, the temperature controller, the irradiation device, the beam movement controller and the storage device and adapted to operate the powder delivery controller, the temperature controller, the irradiation device and the beam movement controller to manufacture a three-dimensional object in accordance with a digital representation of the object stored in the storage device.

15 . The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the powder deliv

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Gmbh

Inventors

• Medeiros Araujo Thiago

Classifications

• B29C64/153

  using layers of powder being selectively joined, e.g. by selective laser sintering or melting · CPC title

• B29C64/393 Primary

  for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes · CPC title

• B29C64/273

  pulsed; frequency modulated · CPC title

• B33Y50/02

  for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes · CPC title

• B33Y10/00 Primary

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title