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Process of and apparatus for making three-dimensional objects

  • US 5,183,598 A
  • Filed: 03/04/1991
  • Issued: 02/02/1993
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/20/1990
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A process for the production of objects of defined shape, comprising the following steps:

  • a) providing at least one thin layer which, when it is subjected to a defined radiation, undergoes a change of solubility in at least one specified solvent, accompanied by a change of volume less than a predetermined limit,b) reinforcing at least one of said thin layers with fibers or with a screen,c) scanning said first thin layer with a beam of said radiation, according to a trace specified in advance and under conditions of intensity and of duration which are capable of causing said change of solubility,d) providing a second thin layer of the same material and superposing it on the first,e) scanning said second thin layer with a beam of the same radiation, according to a trace such that and under conditions such that said change of solubility occurs in the second layer and that the volume of the second layer which is affected by said change of solubility is capable of forming at least one volume continuous with that volume of the first layer which has been previously affected by said change of solubility,f) causing the adhesion of said second layer on the first layer, at least in the region of these two layers which, after their respective irradiation, have the lowest solubility, in such a manner as to constitute a continuous volume of material having lower solubility,g) repeating the operations d) to f) until the volumes of material having lower solubility of the successive layers constitute together an integral unitary volume having the shape of the desired object,h) placing the stack formed by the superposed successive layers in contact with said solvent in such a manner as to separate the parts of material having lower solubility from the parts of material having higher solubility, wherein step f) occurs before the step e) of after the step g).

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