Laser additive manufacture of three-dimensional components containing multiple materials formed as integrated systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9776282-B2
Application number	US-201414513535-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 14, 2014
Priority date	Oct 8, 2012
Publication date	Oct 3, 2017
Grant date	Oct 3, 2017

Abstract

Methods for laser additive manufacture are disclosed in which a plurality of powder layers ( 48, 50 and 52 ) are delivered onto a working surface ( 54 A) to form a multi-powder deposit containing at least two adjacent powders layers in contact, and then applying a first laser energy ( 74 ) to a first powder layer ( 48 ) and a second laser energy ( 76 ) to a second powder layer ( 52 ) to form a section plane of a multi-material component. The multi-powder deposit may include a flux composition that provides at least one protective feature. The shapes, intensities and trajectories of the first and second laser energies may be independently controlled such that their widths are less than or equal to widths of the first and second powder layers, their intensities are tailored to the compositions of the powder layers, and their scan paths define the final shape of the multi-material component.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
delivering a plurality of powder layers onto a working surface to form a multi-powder deposit comprising at least two adjacent powder layers; and
concurrently applying a first laser energy of a first intensity to a first powder layer and a second laser energy of a second laser intensity to a second powder layer to form a section plane of a multi-material component in which shapes and contents of the section plane are defined at least in part by respective shapes and contents of the plurality of powder layers,
wherein a flux composition contained in the multi-powder deposit forms at least one slag layer covering at least a portion of the section plane;
wherein the first powder layer comprises a metal powder, and the second powder layer comprises a ceramic powder;
the first laser energy is directed to follow a first scan path parallel to a perimeter of the first powder layer, causing the metal powder to form a structural metal layer;
the second laser energy is directed to follow a second scan path parallel to a perimeter of the second powder layer, causing the ceramic powder to form a thermal barrier coating bonded to an adjacent metal layer; and
heat delivered directly or indirectly from the first laser energy causes the flux composition to form a slag layer covering the structural metal layer; and
wherein the multi-powder deposit comprises three adjacent powder layers;
a third powder layer situated between the first powder layer and the second powder layer comprises a metallic bond coat powder; and
heat delivered indirectly from the first laser energy causes the metallic bond coat powder to form a bond coat layer situated between, and bonded to both, the structural metal layer and the thermal barrier coating, or
heat delivered from a third laser energy of a third intensity causes the metallic bond coat powder to form the bond coat layer situated between, and bonded to both, the structural metal layer and the thermal barrier coating.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
repeating the delivering and applying steps for successive section planes to fabricate the multi-material component.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
controlling the first intensity to an intensity level effective to fully melt the metal powder and the flux composition in the absence of an externally-applied shielding gas to produce a non-porous structural metal layer; and
controlling the second intensity to an intensity level effective to partially melt the ceramic powder to produce a sintered thermal barrier coating bonded to the adjacent metal layer.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the first powder layer further comprises the flux composition as a flux powder mixed with the metal powder; or
the multi-powder deposit further comprises a layer of the flux composition situated above the first powder layer.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multi-powder deposit comprises a first flux composition and a second flux composition which are different and form separate slag layers covering the at least two adjacent powder layers.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the first laser energy and the second laser energy are provided by a single laser source adapted to modulate laser intensity over a two-dimensional space to produce a multi-intensity laser beam in which the first laser energy and the second laser energy occur at different spatial locations within the multi-intensity laser beam; or
the first laser energy is provided by a diode laser source adapted to produce a rectangular laser beam, and the second laser energy is provided by a second laser source adapted to produce a non-rectangular laser beam, such that a width of the rectangular laser beam is greater than a width of the non-rectangular laser beam.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising at least one of:
controlling a shape of the first laser energy so that a width of the first laser energy impacting the first powder layer is less than or equal to a width of the first powder layer; and
controlling a shape of the second laser energy so that a width of the second laser energy impacting the second powder layer is less than or equal to a width of the second powder layer.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flux composition comprises:
a metal oxide selected from the group consisting of Li 2 O, BeO, B 2 O 3 , B 6 O, MgO, Al 2 O 3 , SiO 2 , CaO, Sc 2 O 3 , TiO, TiO 2 , Ti 2 O 3 , VO, V 2 O 3 , V 2 O 4 , V 2 O 5 , Cr 2 O 3 , CrO 3 , MnO, MnO 2 , Mn 2 O 3 , Mn 3 O 4 , FeO, Fe 2 O 3 , Fe 3 O 4 , CoO, Co 3 O 4 , NiO, Ni 2 O 3 , Cu 2 O, CuO, ZnO, Ga 2 O 3 , GeO 2 , As 2 O 3 , Rb 2 O, SrO, Y 2 O 3 , ZrO 2 , NiO, NiO 2 , Ni 2 O 5 , MoO 3 , MoO 2 , RuO 2 , Rh 2 O 3 , RhO 2 , PdO, Ag 2 O, CdO, In 2 O 3 , SnO, SnO 2 , Sb 2 O 3 , TeO 2 , TeO 3 , Cs 2 O, BaO, HfO 2 , Ta 2 O 5 , WO 2 , WO 3 , ReO 3 , Re 2 O 7 , PtO 2 , Au 2 O 3 , La 2 O 3 , CeO 2 , Ce 2 O 3 , and mixtures thereof; and
at least one of:
(i) a metal halide selected from the group consisting of LiF, LiCl, LiBr, LiI, Li 2 NiBr 4 , Li 2 CuCl 4 , LiAsF 6 , LiPF 6 , LiAlCl 4 , LiGaCl 4 , Li 2 PdCl 4 , NaF, NaCl, NaBr, Na 3 AlF 6 , NaSbF 6 , NaAsF 6 , NaAuBr 4 , NaAlCl 4 , Na 2 PdCl 4 , Na 2 PtCl 4 , MgF 2 , MgCl 2 , MgBr 2 , AlF 3 , KCl, KF, KBr, K 2 RuCl 5 , K 2 IrCl 6 , K 2 PtCl 6 , K 2 PtCl 6 , K 2 ReCl 6 , K 3 RhCl 6 , KSbF 6 , KAsF 6 , K 2 NiF 6 , K 2 TiF 6 , K 2 ZrF 6 , K 2 PtI 6 , KAuBr 4 , K 2 PdBr 4 , K 2 PdCl 4 , CaF 2 , CaF, CaBr 2 , CaCl 2 , CaI 2 , ScBr 3 , ScCl 3 , ScF 3 , ScI 3 , TiF 3 , VCl 2 , VCl 3 , CrCl 3 , CrBr 3 , CrCl 2 , CrF 2 , MnCl 2 , MnBr 2 , MnF 2 , MnF 3 , MnI 2 , FeBr 2 , FeBr 3 , FeCl 2 , FeCl 3 , FeI 2 , CoBr 2 , CoCl 2 , CoF 3 , CoF 2 , CoI 2 , NiBr 2 , NiCl 2 , NiF 2 , NiI 2 , CuBr, CuBr 2 , CuCl, CuCl 2 , CuF 2 , CuI, ZnF 2 , ZnBr 2 , ZnCl 2 , ZnI 2 , GaBr 3 , Ga 2 Cl 4 , GaCl 3 , GaF 3 , GaI 3 , GaBr 2 , GeBr 2 , GeI 2 , GeI 4 , RbBr, RbCl, RbF, RbI, SrBr 2 , SrCl 2 , SrF 2 , SrI 2 , YCl 3 , YF 3 , YI 3 , YBr 3 , ZrBr 4 , ZrCl 4 , ZrI 2 , YBr, ZrBr 4 , ZrCl 4 , ZrF 4 , ZrI 4 , NbCl 5 , NbF 5 , MoCl 3 , MoCl 5 , RuI 3 , RhCl 3 , PdBr 2 , PdCl 2 , PdI 2 , AgCl, AgF, AgF 2 , AgSbF 6 , AgI, CdBr 2 , CdCl 2 , CdI 2 , InBr, InBr 3 , InCl, InCl 2 , InCl 3 , InF 3 , InI, InI 3 , SnBr 2 , SnCl 2 , SnI 2 , SnI 4 , SnCl 3 , SbF 3 , SbI 3 , CsBr, CsCl, CsF, CsI, BaCl 2 , BaF 2 , BaI 2 , BaCoF 4 , BaNiF 4 , HfCl 4 , HfF 4 , TaCl 5 , TaF 5 , WCl 4 , WCl 6 , ReCl 3 , ReCl 5 , IrCl 3 , PtBr 2 , PtCl 2 , AuBr 3 , AuCl, AuCl 3 , AuI, KAuCl 4 , LaBr 3 , LaCl 3 , LaF 3 , LaI 3 , CeBr 3 , CeCl 3 , CeF 3 , CeF 4 , CeI 3 , and mixtures thereof;
(ii) an oxometallate selected from the group consisting of LiIO 3 , Li—BO 2 , Li 2 SiO 3 , LiClO 4 , Na 2 B 4 O 7 , NaBO 3 , Na 2 SiO 3 , NaVO 3 , Na 2 MoO 4 , Na 2 SeO 4 , Na 2 SeO 3 , Na 2 TeO 3 , K 2 SiO 3 , K 2 CrO 4 , K 2 Cr2O 7 , CaSiO 3 , BaMnO 4 , and mixtures thereof; and
(iii) a metal carbonate selected from the group consisting of Li 2 CO 3 , Na 2 CO 3 , NaHCO 3 , MgCO 3 , K 2 CO 3 , CaCO 3 , Cr 2 (CO 3 ) 3 , MnCO 3 , CoCO 3 , NiCO 3 , CuCO 3 , Rb 2 CO 3 , SrCO 3 , Y 2 (CO3) 3 , Ag 2 CO 3 , CdCO 3 , In 2 (CO 3 ) 3 , Sb 2 (CO 3 ) 3 , C 2 CO 3 , BaCO 3 , La 2 (CO 3 ) 3 , Ce 2 (CO 3 ) 3 , NaAl(CO 3 ) (OH) 2 , and mixtures thereof.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flux composition comprises:
5-60% by weight of at least one of selected from the group consisting of Al 2 O 3 , SiO 2 , Na 2 SiO 3 and K 2 SiO 3 ;
10-50% by weight of at least one selected from the group consisting of CaF 2 , Na 3 AlF 6 , Na 2 O and K 2 O;
1-30% by weight of at least one selected from the group consisting of CaCO 3 , Al 2 (CO 3 ) 3 , NaAl(CO 3 )(OH) 2 , CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 , MgCO 3 , MnCO 3 , CoCO 3 , NiCO 3 and La 2 (CO3

Assignees

• Siemens Energy Inc

Inventors

• Subramanian Ramesh
• Kamel Ahmed
• Bruck Gerald J

Classifications

• B22F12/55

  Two or more means for feeding material · CPC title

• B22F12/45

  Two or more · CPC title

• B22F12/41

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

• B22F10/366

  Scanning parameters, e.g. hatch distance or scanning strategy · CPC title

• B22F10/36

  of energy beam parameters · CPC title