FABRICATION OF NON-HOMOGENEOUS ARTICLES VIA ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING USING THREE-DIMENSIONAL VOXEL-BASED MODELS

• US 20120065755A1
• Filed: 08/12/2011
• Published: 03/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: 3D Systems, Inc. (3D Systems Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SensAble Technologies, Inc. (3D Systems Corporation)
• Inventors: Chen, David T., Steingart, Robert
• Application Number:
  US13/208,992
• Publication Number:
  US 20120065755A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/98
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 13/0019 using three dimensional printing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 30/00 Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/00 Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 80/00 Products made by additive manufacturing

Abstract

The invention provides systems and methods for manufacture of a non-homogeneous article using a 3D voxel-based model of the article and a rapid prototyping device. Use of a voxel-based model provides processing advantages and offers improved realism of the manufactured object with regard to non-homogeneous (i) color, (ii) translucency, and/or (iii) hardness, for example.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing an aesthetically-acceptable non-homogeneous object, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) defining a 3D voxel representation for the non-homogeneous object to be manufactured, wherein each of a plurality of voxels is assigned one or more values representing one or more of the following prescribed physical properties M;

color, translucency, and hardness;

(b) using the 3D voxel representation to;

(i) define a set of 3D dots to produce a shape of each of a plurality of successive Z-layers of the object to be manufactured and (ii) define the one or more prescribed physical properties at each dot making up each of the successive Z-layers of the object to be manufactured;

(c) defining a transfer function T(M) that identifies a pigment, a resin, or both a pigment and a resin to produce a material having the one or more prescribed physical properties for each 3D dot to be printed; and

(d) using a 3D printer to deposit the pigment and/or the resin identified by the transfer function at each dot of each of the plurality of successive Z-layers of the object, thereby producing the non-homogeneous object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises using multivariate interpolation to define the one or more prescribed physical properties at each 3D dot.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the multivariate interpolation is trilinear interpolation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transfer function T(M) identifies multiple pigments and/or multiple resins.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-homogeneous object is one or more teeth.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a value of the one or more prescribed physical properties varies within the object and/or within each of the Z-layers of the object.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the 3D printer is a rapid prototyping device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more prescribed physical properties comprises translucency, and wherein step (d) comprises depositing at least two different resins with embedded crystalline particles at a given dot, the combination of which resins produces the translucency prescribed for the given dot.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the embedded crystalline particles have a known size distribution.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the voxels has at least one associated real world dimension that is no greater than about 10 microns.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the 3D voxel representation defined in step (a) is partitioned into a hierarchy of blocks, wherein each block:

(i) has one or more spatial properties in common; and

/or (ii) has one or more of the prescribed physical properties in common.

12. A system for fabricating a non-homogeneous article, the system comprising:

a user interface configured to receive input from a user;

a design application in communication with the user interface, wherein the design application is configured to create a 3D voxel-based model of a non-homogeneous article, wherein each voxel is assigned one or more physical properties; and

a rapid prototyping machine for fabrication of the non-homogeneous article, wherein said rapid prototyping machine is configured to fabricate the artificial tooth via additive manufacturing using the 3D voxel-based model, wherein properties of the voxels of the model correspond to properties of the voxels of the fabricated article.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the physical properties comprise at least one of color, translucency, hardness, modulus, and dynamic modulus.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the system is configured to perform additive manufacturing by providing successive layers or parcels of material.