Penetration barrier for additive manufacturing

• US 10,486,373 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2014
• Issued: 11/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Puigardeu Aramendia, Sergio, De Pena, Alejandro Manuel, Cortes Herms, Sebastia
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhao, Xiao S
• Application Number:
  US15/112,074
• Publication Number:
  US 20160325506A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,050 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/165 using a combination of solid and fluid materials, e.g. a powder selectively bound by a liquid binder, catalyst, inhibitor or energy absorber
• 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 64/393 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 50/02 for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes

Abstract

In one example, a non-transitory processor readable medium with instructions thereon that when executed cause an additive manufacturing machine to: form a first layer of build material; form a second layer of build material over the first layer; solidify build material in the second layer to form a slice; and form a barrier that is separable from the slice to prevent a coalescing agent in the second layer penetrating build material in the first layer.

Claims

1. A non-transitory processor readable medium having instructions thereon that when executed cause an additive manufacturing machine to:

form a first layer of build material;

form a second layer of build material over the first layer;

selectively add a coalescing agent to the second layer;

solidify build material in the second layer to form a slice; and

before the second layer of build material is formed, form a barrier, using the build material of the first layer, that is separable from the slice, such that the coalescing agent applied to the second layer is prevented from penetrating into the build material in the first layer.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein:

the instructions to form a barrier include instructions to form the barrier in the first layer of build material; and

the instructions to form a second layer of build material over the first layer include instructions to form the second layer of build material on the first layer of build material.

3. The medium of claim 2, further comprising instructions to form the first layer of build material on a third layer of build material.

4. The medium of claim 2, wherein the instructions to form the barrier in the first layer of build material include instructions to coalesce build material in the first layer or to solidify build material in the first layer or to coalesce and solidify build material in the first layer.

5. A computer program product that includes the non-transitory processor readable medium of claim 1.

6. A process for making a three dimensional object, comprising:

forming a first layer of build material;

forming a second layer of build material over the first layer;

adding coalescing agent to the second layer;

before the second layer of build materials is formed, forming a barrier using the build material of the first layer to prevent the coalescing agent in the second layer from penetrating into the build material in the first layer;

solidifying build material in the second layer to form a slice of the object; and

separating the slice from the barrier.

7. The process of claim 6, wherein solidifying build material in the second layer includes solidifying build material in the second layer on the barrier.

8. The process of claim 7, wherein solidifying build material on the barrier includes:

dispensing a coalescing agent onto build material of the second layer, which is disposed on the barrier, in a pattern to form patterned build material; and

applying energy to the patterned build material.

9. The process of claim 7, wherein solidifying build material on the barrier comprises:

dispensing a coalescing agent onto build material of the second layer, which is disposed on the barrier, in a first pattern to form a first patterned build material;

dispensing a coalescence modifier agent onto build material of the second layer, which is disposed on the barrier, in a second pattern to form a second patterned build material;

applying energy to the first patterned build material and the second patterned build material.

10. The process of claim 6, further comprising, with the barrier, blocking applied energy from penetrating into the first layer.

11. The process of claim 6, further comprising applying a different combination of coalescing agent, coalescence modifier agent and energy to form the barrier as are applied to form the slice of the object.

12. The process of claim 6, further comprising, with the barrier, limiting shrinkage of the slice of the object.

13. A process for making a three dimensional object, comprising:

forming a first layer of build material;

forming a barrier from the build material of the first layer to prevent coalescing agent in second layer from penetrating into the build material in the first layer;

forming the second layer of build material over the first layer;

adding coalescing agent to the second layer;

solidifying build material in the second layer to form a slice of the object; and

separating the slice from the barrier;

wherein forming the barrier includes coalescing build material in the first layer or solidifying build material in the first layer or coalescing and solidifying build material in the first layer.

14. The process of claim 13, further comprising, with the barrier, blocking applied energy from penetrating into the first layer.

15. The process of claim 13, further comprising applying a different combination of coalescing agent, coalescence modifier agent and energy to form the barrier as are applied to form the slice of the object.

16. The process of claim 13, further comprising, with the barrier, limiting shrinkage of the slice of the object.