POWDER MATERIAL, METHOD FOR PRODUCING THREE-DIMENSIONAL MOLDED ARTICLE, AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL MOLDING DEVICE

• US 20180065324A1
• Filed: 05/11/2016
• Published: 03/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2015
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Konica Minolta Inc.
• Original Assignee: Konica Minolta Inc.
• Inventors: ISOBE, Kazuya, TAKENOUCHI, Shigeki
• Application Number:
  US15/569,337
• Publication Number:
  US 20180065324A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 1/00 Metallic powder; Treatment of metallic powder, e.g. to facilitate working or to improve properties
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 1/05 Metallic powder characterised by the size or surface area of the particles
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 1/054 Nanosized particles
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 1/10 Metallic powder containing lubricating or binding agents; Metallic powder containing organic material
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 1/148 Agglomerating
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/10 Formation of a green body
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/16 by embedding the binder within the powder bed
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/28 Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM]
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/32 of the atmosphere, e.g. composition or pressure in a building chamber
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/34 of powder characteristics, e.g. density, oxidation or flowability
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/36 of energy beam parameters
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 12/53 Nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 2003/1052 assisted by energy absorption enhanced by the coating or powder
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 2998/00 Supplementary information concerning processes or compositions relating to powder metallurgy
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 2998/10 Processes characterised by the sequence of their steps
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 2999/00 Aspects linked to processes or compositions used in powder metallurgy
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 67/04 Sintering combined with compression B29C43/00
• 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 70/10 Composites of different types of material, e.g. mixtures of ceramics and polymers or mixtures of metals and biomaterials
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 30/00 : Nanotechnology for materials or surface science, e.g. nanocomposites
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 10/25 : Process efficiency

Abstract

The objective of the present invention is to provide a powder material for a powder bed fusion method, said powder material making it possible to easily sinter or fuse metal particles included in the powder material using a low-energy laser regardless of the material constituting the powder material. The powder material is used in the production of a three-dimensional molded article by selectively irradiating a thin layer of the powder material, which includes metal particles, with a laser light, forming molded article layers formed by sintering or fusing the metal particles, and laminating the molded article layers. The powder material includes porous metal particles formed by binding metal nanoparticles with a binder, and the BET specific surface area of the powder material is 5.0×10⁶−1.1×10⁸ (m²/m³), inclusive.

Claims

1. A powder material used for fabrication of a three-dimensional object by selectively irradiating a thin layer of a powder material containing metal particles with a laser beam to form an object layer through sintering or fusing of the metal particles, and laminating the object layer, the powder material comprising:

porous metal particles each formed from metal nanoparticles bonded each other with a binder, wherein

the powder material has a BET specific surface area of 5.0×

10⁶ (m²/m³) or more and 1.1×

10⁸ (m²/m³) or less.

2. The powder material according to claim 1, wherein the metal particles contain a metal material having an emissivity of 0.30 or less with respect to 1.07 μ

m-wavelength light.

3. The powder material according to claim 1, wherein the metal nanoparticles have an average particle size of 100 nm or less.

4. The powder material according to claim 1, wherein the binder includes at least one component selected from the group consisting of a thermoplastic resin, a thermosetting resin, and a protein that adsorbs to a metal.

5. A method of fabricating a three-dimensional object, comprising:

forming a thin layer of the powder material according to claim 1;

forming an object layer by selectively irradiating the thin layer with a laser beam to sinter or fuse the metal particles contained in the powder material; and

laminating the object layers by repeating the forming of the thin layer and the forming of the object layer in this order a plurality of times.

6. A three-dimensional fabrication apparatus comprising:

a build stage;

a thin layer forming section that forms a thin layer of the powder material according to claim 1 on the build stage;

a laser irradiation section that irradiates the thin layer with a laser to form an object layer by sintering or fusing the metal particles;

a stage support section that supports the build stage such that a vertical position of the build stage is changed; and

a control section that controls the thin layer forming section, the laser irradiation section, and the stage support section such that the object layer is repeatedly formed and laminated.