Selective laser sintering using nanocomposite materials
First Claim
1. A method of producing a three-dimensional object, comprising the steps of:
- applying a layer of a nanocomposite powder at a target surface, said nanocomposite powder comprising at least first and second constituent materials, said first constituent material having a lower melting temperature than said second constituent material;
directing energy at selected locations of said layer corresponding to the cross-section of the object to be formed in said layer, to fuse particles of said first constituent material thereat;
repeating said applying and directing steps to form the object in layerwise fashion; and
removing unfused nanocomposite powder from said object.
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Abstract
A method of fabricating three-dimensional objects in a layerwise fashion, and having high structural strength and high density, is disclosed. Methods are disclosed by which nanocomposite powders of ceramic-ceramic systems, ceramic-metal systems, ceramic-polymer systems, and metal-polymer systems are produced. Disclosed examples utilize solution chemistry approaches, such as sol-gel processing, by way of which a gel is produced which is then fired and milled to form a powder suitable for selective laser sintering, where a laser fuses selected portions of layers of the powders according to a computer-aided-design data base. The ultraheterogeneity of the powder results in larger surface area and grain boundaries of the constituents, which enhances the solid state diffusion mechanism, and thus reduces the time and temperature required for sintering to occur. In addition, the higher stored metastable energy of the nanocomposite powder is believed to enhance densification during solid-phase sintering. Objects of high density of complex shape may thus be obtained directly from CAD data base design representations.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method of producing a three-dimensional object, comprising the steps of:
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applying a layer of a nanocomposite powder at a target surface, said nanocomposite powder comprising at least first and second constituent materials, said first constituent material having a lower melting temperature than said second constituent material; directing energy at selected locations of said layer corresponding to the cross-section of the object to be formed in said layer, to fuse particles of said first constituent material thereat; repeating said applying and directing steps to form the object in layerwise fashion; and removing unfused nanocomposite powder from said object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification