Build plate and apparatus for additive manufacturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9597730-B2
Application number	US-201414784904-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 16, 2014
Priority date	Apr 19, 2013
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

A powder bed deposition apparatus comprises a movable build plate, a powder delivery system, an energy beam apparatus capable of selectively steering at least one focused energy beam over successive quantities of metal powder, a non-metallic barrier layer, and an anchor removably secured to the build plate. The non-metallic barrier layer is disposed over a metal upper surface of the build plate. The anchor has a metal bonding surface flush with the non-metallic barrier layer, the non-metallic barrier layer and the anchor defining a removable build assembly with a powder bed working surface.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A powder bed deposition apparatus comprising:
a movable build plate with a metal upper surface;
a powder delivery system capable of supplying successive quantities of metal powder to the movable build plate;
an energy beam apparatus capable of selectively steering at least one focused energy beam over each of the successive quantities of metal powder;
a non-metallic barrier layer disposed over the metal upper surface of the build plate; and
an anchor removably secured to the build plate, the anchor having a metal bonding surface flush with the non-metallic barrier layer, the non-metallic barrier layer and the anchor defining a removable build assembly with a powder bed working surface;
wherein the anchor comprises:
a removable anchor pin including a body, an upper surface, a lower surface, and a notch at least partially circumscribing the body between the upper and lower surfaces; and
a sacrificial localized support structure metallurgically bonded to the upper surface of the anchor pin, the localized support structure having a surface defining at least a portion of the metal bonding surface.

2. The powder bed deposition apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the energy beam is selected from: an electron beam, and a laser beam.

3. The powder bed deposition apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the build plate includes at least one anchoring hole adapted to retain the removable build assembly during a build process.

4. The powder bed deposition apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the non-metallic barrier layer includes at least one hole having an edge aligned with an edge of the at least one anchoring hole.

5. The powder bed deposition apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the upper surface of the anchor pin defines at least a portion of the metal bonding surface.

6. The powder bed deposition apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the localized support structure comprises:
a plurality of component build layers formed using the powder bed deposition apparatus.

7. The powder bed deposition apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the removable build assembly also includes an in-process near-net shape component comprising:
a first component build layer including a first portion adhered to the metal bonding surface of the anchor, and a second portion disposed on the non-metallic barrier layer.

8. The powder bed deposition apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the non-metallic barrier layer comprises:
a ceramic sheet generally conforming to the metal upper surface of the build plate.

9. The powder bed deposition apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is selected from one of: a direct laser sintering (DLS) apparatus, a direct laser melting (DLM) apparatus, a selective laser sintering (SLS) apparatus, a selective laser melting (SLM) apparatus, a laser engineering net shaping (LENS) apparatus, an electron beam melting (EBM) apparatus, and a direct metal deposition (DMD) apparatus.

10. A build platform comprising:
a build plate with a metal upper surface; and
a build assembly removably secured to the build plate, the build assembly including a powder bed working surface having a non-metallic barrier portion and a metal bonding portion, the non-metallic barrier portion disposed over the metal upper surface of the build plate, and the metal bonding portion flush with the non-metallic barrier portion;
wherein the metal bonding portion comprises a surface of at least one anchor recessed below the metal upper surface of the build plate, the at least one anchor comprising:
an anchor pin removably secured to the build plate during a build process, the anchor pin including a body, an upper surface, a lower surface, and a notch at least partially circumscribing the body between the upper and lower surfaces; and
a sacrificial localized support structure metallurgically bonded to the upper surface of the anchor pin.

11. The build platform of claim 10 , wherein the non-metallic barrier portion comprises:
a ceramic sheet generally conforming to the metal upper surface of the build plate.

12. The build platform of claim 10 , wherein the build assembly also includes an in-process near-net shape component comprising:
a plurality of component build layers including a first component layer metallurgically bonded to the metal bonding surface of the anchor.

13. A method for manufacturing a near-net shape component, the method comprising:
removably securing a powder bed working surface to a movable build plate with a metal upper surface, the powder bed working surface having a non-metallic barrier portion and a metal bonding portion, the non-metallic barrier portion disposed over the metal upper surface of the build plate, and the metal bonding portion flush with the non-metallic barrier portion;
supplying a quantity of metal powder from a powder delivery system to form a first powder build layer on the powder bed working surface;
forming a first component build layer by operating an energy beam apparatus to selectively steer at least one focused energy beam over the first powder build layer; and
adhering the first component build layer to the metal bonding portion of the powder bed working surface;
wherein the metal bonding portion comprises a surface of at least one anchor recessed below the metal upper surface of the build plate, the at least one anchor comprising:
an anchor pin removably secured to the build plate during a build process, the anchor pin including a body, an upper surface, a lower surface, and a notch at least partially circumscribing the body between the upper and lower surfaces; and
a sacrificial localized support structure metallurgically bonded to the upper surface of the anchor pin.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the non-metallic barrier portion comprises:
a ceramic sheet generally conforming to the metal upper surface of the build plate.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the metal bonding portion comprises:
an upper surface of an anchor removably secured to the build plate.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the metal bonding portion comprises:
a surface of a sacrificial localized support structure metallurgically bonded to an anchor pin removably secured to the build plate.

17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
supplying a subsequent layer of powder from the powder delivery system to form a subsequent powder build layer over at least a portion of a preceding component build layer;
forming a subsequent component build layer by operating the energy beam apparatus to selectively steer the at least one focused energy beam over the subsequent powder build layer; and
adhering the subsequent component build layer onto a portion of the preceding component build layer.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
iteratively performing the steps of supplying a subsequent layer of powder, forming a subsequent component build layer, and adhering the subsequent component build layer to form a build assembly comprising the near-net shape component and the powder bed working surface.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
removing the build assembly from the build plate.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
separating the near-net shape component from the remainder of the build assembly.

Assignees

• United Technologies Corp

Inventors

• Mironets Sergey
• Klucha Agnes Pu Hang Chau
• Twelves Jr Wendell V

Classifications

• B22F10/43

  characterised by material · CPC title

• B22F12/67

  Blades · CPC title

• B22F10/25

  Direct deposition of metal particles, e.g. direct metal deposition [DMD] or laser engineered net shaping [LENS] · CPC title

• B22F12/53

  Nozzles · CPC title

• B22F10/28

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