Skillful three-dimensional printing

• US 10,058,920 B2
• Filed: 02/09/2018
• Issued: 08/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Velo3D, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Velo3D, Inc.
• Inventors: Buller, Benyamin, Lappas, Tasso, Mendelsberg, Rueben, Lappen, Alan Rick
• Primary Examiner(s): Evans, Geoffrey S
• Application Number:
  US15/893,523
• Publication Number:
  US 20180161875A1
• Time in Patent Office: 200 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/28 Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM]
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/36 of energy beam parameters
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/47 characterised by structural features
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/68 Cleaning or washing
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/73 of powder
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 12/70 Gas flow means
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 2998/10 Processes characterised by the sequence of their steps
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/04 Automatically aligning, aiming or focusing the laser beam, e.g. using the back-scattered light
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/0869 Devices involving movement of the laser head in at least one axial direction
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/142 for the removal of by-products
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/144 the fluid stream containing particles, e.g. powder
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/1462 Nozzles; Features related to nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/342 Build-up welding
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/702 Auxiliary equipment
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 37/06 for positioning the molten material, e.g. confining it to a desired area
• CPC Class Codes: B28B 1/001 Rapid manufacturing of 3D objects by additive depositing, agglomerating or laminating of material selective deposition modelling of metallic powder B22F10/00; rapid manufacturing of 3D objects in general and in particular of plastics B29C64/00
• CPC Class Codes: B29B 17/0005 Direct recuperation and re-use of scrap material during moulding operation, i.e. feed-back of used material
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/153 using layers of powder being selectively joined, e.g. by selective laser sintering or melting
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/171 specially adapted for manufacturing multiple 3D objects
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/188 involving additional operations performed on the added layers, e.g. smoothing, grinding or thickness control surface shaping B29C59/00; after-treatment of articles without altering their shape B29C71/00
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/214 : Doctor blades
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/307 : Handling of material to be used in additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/35 : Cleaning
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/357 : Recycling
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/386 : Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/393 : for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/40 : Structures for supporting 3D objects during manufacture and intended to be sacrificed after completion thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B29K 2105/251 : Particles, powder or granules expandable particles B29K2105/046
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 10/00 : Processes of additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 30/00 : Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 40/00 : Auxiliary operations or equipment, e.g. for material handling
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 40/20 : Post-treatment, e.g. curing, coating or polishing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/02 : for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 70/00 : Materials specially adapted for additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 80/00 : Products made by additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4099 : Surface or curve machining, making 3D objects, e.g. desktop manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/35134 : 3-D cad-cam
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/49007 : Making, forming 3-D object, model, surface
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 10/25 : Process efficiency
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 : Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

The present disclosure various apparatuses, and systems for 3D printing. The present disclosure provides three-dimensional (3D) printing methods, apparatuses, software and systems for a step and repeat energy irradiation process; controlling material characteristics and/or deformation of the 3D object; reducing deformation in a printed 3D object; and planarizing a material bed.

Claims

1. A method for printing a three-dimensional object, comprising using an energy beam directed to a pre-transformed material to:

(a) transform the pre-transformed material to a first transformed material at a location that is at or above a bottom skin layer, wherein the bottom skin layer comprises a second transformed material, which first transformed material at least partially overlaps the second transformed material along a lateral dimension of the bottom skin layer, wherein the first transformed material and the second transformed material are part of the three-dimensional object; and

(b) heat the second transformed material to increase a temperature of the second transformed material to a target temperature value that is (i) between a solidus temperature and a liquidus temperature of a material of the bottom skin layer, and/or (ii) at or above a temperature at which the material of the bottom skin layer plastically yields.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a center of the first transformed material is above the second transformed material along the lateral dimension of the bottom skin layer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein during printing, the first transformed material is above the bottom skin layer along a direction of a gravitational field.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing a simulation corresponding at least in part to the second transformed material to generate an output, wherein the energy beam has one or more parameters that are based at least in part on the output.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the simulation comprises a thermo-mechanical simulation.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the simulation comprises use of a material property of the three-dimensional object.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a system-on-chip (SOC), application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and/or an application specific instruction-set processor (ASIPs) to direct the energy beam to increase the temperature of the second transformed material.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a graphical processing unit (GPU) to direct the energy beam to increase the temperature of the second transformed material.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a programmable logic device (PLD) and/or a field programmable gate array (FPGA) to direct the energy beam to increase the temperature of the second transformed material.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a feedback or feed-forward control scheme to direct the energy beam to increase the temperature of the second transformed material.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a closed loop or open loop control scheme to direct the energy beam to increase the temperature of the second transformed material.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to using the energy beam or while using the energy beam, dispensing the pre-transformed material at or above the bottom skin layer to form a material bed having an exposed surface, which exposed surface comes in contact with the energy beam during printing.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising dispensing a layer of the pre-transformed material that is generated by (1) removing an excess of pre-transformed material from the exposed surface of the material bed using a gas flow and (2) cyclonically separating the pre-transformed material from the gas flow.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-transformed material comprises particles formed of at least one material comprising an elemental metal, metal alloy, ceramic, or an allotrope of elemental carbon.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-transformed material comprises particles formed of at least one material comprising a polymer or a resin.

16. A method for printing a three-dimensional object, comprising:

(a) using an energy beam that is directed to a pre-transformed material to transform the pre-transformed material to a transformed material as part of the three-dimensional object, wherein the transformed material is above a bottom skin layer of the three-dimensional object; and

(b) controlling at least one characteristic of the energy beam such that a temperature of the bottom skin layer at a position below the transformed material is (i) between a solidus temperature and a liquidus temperature of a material of the bottom skin layer, and/or (ii) at or above a temperature at which the material of the bottom skin layer plastically yields.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the transformed material comprises a melt pool.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising repeating (a) subsequent to (b).

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the bottom skin layer is below the transformed material along a direction of a gravitational field during printing.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one characteristic comprises power density, cross sectional area, trajectory, speed, focus, energy profile, dwell time, intermission time, or fluence of the energy beam.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the pre-transformed material comprises particles formed of at least one material comprising an elemental metal, metal alloy, ceramic, or an allotrope of elemental carbon.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the pre-transformed material comprises particles formed of at least one material comprising a polymer or a resin.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein the bottom skin layer intersects with a sphere of radius XY, wherein an acute angle between a straight line XY and a direction normal to an average layering plane of the bottom skin layer is in a range from about 45 degrees to about 90 degrees.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein during printing, the bottom skin layer is (i) a first-formed layer of the three-dimensional object, (ii) part of a hanging structure of the three-dimensional object, or (iii) a wall of a cavity of the three-dimensional object.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the bottom skin layer is part of the hanging structure, and wherein the hanging structure comprises a side that is disconnected from (i) a platform that supports a material bed of the pre-transformed material during printing, or (ii) another printed structure that is not part of the three-dimensional object.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the bottom skin layer is part of the hanging structure, wherein the hanging structure comprises auxiliary support features that are spaced apart by two (2) millimeters or more.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the bottom skin layer is at least a portion of the wall of the cavity, wherein the wall comprises a bottom side that is disconnected from (i) a platform that supports a material bed of the pre-transformed material during printing, or (ii) another printed structure that is not part of the three-dimensional object.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the wall comprises auxiliary support features that are spaced apart by two (2) millimeters or more.

29. The method of claim 16, wherein the three-dimensional object is printed layer-by-layer, wherein an outermost layer of the three-dimensional object comprises, or is connected to, auxiliary support features that are spaced apart by two (2) millimeters or more.

30. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one characteristic of the energy beam is controlled before and/or during use of the energy beam to transform the pre-transformed material to the transformed material.