High density 3d printing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018297272-A1
Application number	US-201815953380-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 13, 2018
Priority date	Apr 14, 2017
Publication date	Oct 18, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods of printing an object via a 3-dimensional printer include provide for printed objects having a higher density. A printer head is operated to deposit build material in lines under controlled parameters including lateral position, height, extrustion rate, extrusion temperature, and/or extrusion material. The printer may print first lines forming channels at a given layer, and then second lines to fill those channels. The printer may operate with other approaches to fill gaps between printed lines, such as offset and/or smaller lines aligned with those gaps. The resulting object has greater density while maintaining an accurate object shape.

First claim

1 . A method of printing an object, comprising:
printing strands of build material at a controlled rate of effluence from a print head that moves at a speed and direction relative to a build surface; depositing a first set of strands of a build material at a set of strand-widths and strand-heights, a local print direction defining the local strand position and being substantially locally parallel between adjacently deposited strands of the first set, gaps between the first set of strands having a set of gap widths; and depositing a second set of filler strands of the build material, the second set of filler strands deposited with a second set of filler strand-heights, and having a second set of filler strand-widths sufficiently wide to cause the second set of filler strands of the build material to substantially fill the gaps between the first set of strands.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising depositing the plurality of the first set of strands of build material at a first temperature of the build material, and depositing the second set of filler strands of the build material at a second temperature of the build material different than the first temperature of the build material.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising depositing the plurality of the first set of parallel strands of build material at a first ratio of a rate of effluence to the product of the strand width and strand height and relative speed, and depositing the plurality of the second set of filler strands at a second ratio of a rate of effluence to the product of the strand width and strand height and relative speed, wherein the ratio for the first set of parallel strands is substantially different than the ratio for the second set of filler strands.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising depositing the plurality of the first set of parallel strands of build material at a first speed relative to the build surface, and depositing the plurality of the second set of filler strands at a second speed relative to the build surface, where the second speed relative to the build surface is substantially different than the first speed relative to the build surface.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising depositing the first set of parallel strands of build material at a first strand width, and depositing the second set of filler strands of the build material at a second strand width, where the first strand width is substantially different than the first strand width.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising depositing the plurality of the first set of parallel strands of build material at a first strand height, and depositing the second set of filler strands of the build material at a second strand height, where the first strand height is substantially different than the first strand height.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of strand heights and second set of strand heights are substantially equal.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the set of second strand widths is approximately equal to the width of corresponding gap in which each second strand is deposited.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the widths of the set of second strand widths are within 5% of the widths of the gaps.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the widths of the set of second strand widths are within 1% of the widths of the gaps.

11 . A method of printing an object, comprising:
printing strands of build material at a controlled rate of effluence from a print head that moves at a speed and direction relative to a build surface; printing a first plurality of substantially locally parallel strands from a build material in a first layer of a printed object, the plurality of strands positioned adjacent to one another and having a first set of strand widths; and printing a second plurality of substantially locally parallel strands from the build material in a second layer of the printed object, each of the strands from the second plurality of strands covering from above a connection point between two of the first plurality of strands.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising printing an edge strand in an adjacent layer, the edge strand occupying an edge portion of the adjacent layer of the object, the edge line having a width substantially larger than the uniform width of each of the second plurality of parallel lines.

13 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising printing an edge strandline in an adjacent layer, the edge strand occupying an edge portion of the adjacent layer of the object, the edge line having a width substantially smaller than the uniform width of each of the second plurality of parallel lines.

14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the uniform width of the second plurality of strands is less than the uniform width of the first plurality of strands.

15 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising printing a third plurality of strands in a third layer of the printed object, a vertical distance between the first and second layer being distinct from the vertical distance between the second and third layer.

16 . A method of printing an object, comprising:
printing strands of build material at a controlled rate of effluence from a print head that moves at a speed and direction relative to a build surface, said strands of a build material exhibiting a predetermined set of strand-widths and strand-heights, printing a first layer of a printed object at a first ratio of the rate of effluence to the product of the build speed and strand height and strand width; printing a second layer of a printed object at a second ratio of the rate of effluence to the product of the build speed and strand height and strand width, the second ratio being greater than the first ratio determining accumulation of build material at a print head concurrently with printing the second layer; comparing the accumulation against a threshold; and and removing the build material from the print head in response to the accumulation surpassing the threshold.

17 . A method of printing an object, comprising:
depositing material from a print head at a deposition rate, the deposition rate selected to yield a controllable accumulation of material on the print head during the deposition process; determining accumulation of build material at a print head concurrently with material deposition; comparing the accumulation against a threshold; and removing the build material from the print head in response to the accumulation surpassing the threshold.

18 . A method of printing an object, comprising:
depositing strands of build material at a controlled rate of effluence from a print head which moves at a speed and direction relative to a build surface; printing a first layer of an object from a plurality of first strands having a strand width and strand height, the first layer having a first height equal to the first strand height, the first layer having a first extrusion ratio given by a first rate of effluence over the product of the first deposition speed and first strand height and first strand width; and printing a second layer of the object from a plurality of second strands having a second strand width and second strand height, the second layer having a second extrusion ratio given by the second rate of effluence over the product of the second deposition speed and second strand height and second strand width, the second layer having a second height equal to the second strand height.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein printing the

Assignees

• Desktop Metal Inc

Inventors

• Preston Aaron
• Mykulowycz Nicholas
• Barbati Alexander C
• Gibson Michael A
• Haider Charles John
• Tobia Jay

Classifications

• B22F10/18

  by mixing binder with metal in filament form, e.g. fused filament fabrication [FFF] · CPC title

• B22F10/32

  of the atmosphere, e.g. composition or pressure in a building chamber · CPC title

• B29C64/106 Primary

  using only liquids or viscous materials, e.g. depositing a continuous bead of viscous material · CPC title

• B22F10/38

  to achieve specific product aspects, e.g. surface smoothness, density, porosity or hollow structures · CPC title

• B22F10/66

  by mechanical means · CPC title