JP2000104101A - Molding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the generation of strains caused by the thermal expansion and shrinkage of a molding even if the melting temp. is high in the case metallic fine particles are molded. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a storage tank 2 stored with a superfine particle-dispersed soln. 1 in which metallic superfine particles high in activity are dispersed and exist, an ascending/descending table 3 arranged freely ascendable and discendable in the storage tank 2, an ascending/descending control device 5 controlling the ascending and descending of the ascending/ descending table 3, a projector 8 applying a laser toward the liquid face of the soln. 1 and a control computer 10 executing the indication of the control of the projector 8 and the ascending/descending control device 5 and forming a desired molding 4 on the ascending/descending table 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a molding apparatus for molding using ultrafine metal particles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the development process of various products such as electric equipment, a product three-dimensional model is created and designs and mechanisms are checked. However, in accordance with the recent shortening of the product life cycle, There is a need to rapidly produce a three-dimensional model.

[0003] Therefore, according to such necessity, an optical shaping device irradiates a laser to the photocurable resin to cure the resin to form a three-dimensional model, or to manufacture a shaped object by an ultra-high-speed cutting method. Ways have been tried. In particular, in the optical molding apparatus, an attempt has been made to directly produce a resin mold model of a product in order to cope with a short product cycle.

[0004] Of the above, an optical molding apparatus is disclosed in
No. 05672. This apparatus is provided with a projector that horizontally arranges a lifting table driven by a lifting control device in a photocurable resin in a resin tank and irradiates a light beam toward a liquid surface of the photocurable resin, The movement of the projector is controlled in a XY direction in a horizontal plane by a movement control device.

[0005] Ultraviolet laser light from a UV laser device is supplied to the projector via an optical shutter.
The optical shutter adjusts the output of the UV laser device. The operations of the elevation control device, the movement control device, and the optical shutter are controlled by a control computer.

In the above apparatus, contour data is created by slicing shape data of a three-dimensional object designed by a CAD system, and the contour data is supplied to a control computer. (Approximately 1 to 0.3 mm) in the resin tank, and the ultraviolet laser beam from the projector scans the photocurable resin on the elevating table in the XY directions according to the contour data.

As a result, the lowered resin tanks are sequentially deposited on the elevating table in a shape corresponding to the contour data,
Finally, a three-dimensional structure having a predetermined shape is formed.

[0008] However, a molded article molded from a photocurable resin has low strength and low durability. For this reason, design considerations must be made so as not to form sharp corners, and even if an expensive material is used to improve the strength even if it is used for a mold, the shot used for the injection molding should be used. The number is small and not yet practical.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-111308 describes that molding is performed using metal powder instead of the above-mentioned photocurable resin in order to improve the strength of the molded article.

[0010]

However, in this method of molding from metal powder, the metal powder is melted and molded.
It is melted at a high temperature of 00 to 400 degrees. For this reason, when the temperature of the molded object drops due to the course of the incident from the time of molding, distortion of the molded object due to thermal expansion and contraction occurs,
There is a possibility that it cannot be formed as designed.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem.

[0012]

According to the present invention, there is provided a storage tank for storing a solvent in which ultra-fine metal particles having high activity are dispersed and present, and an elevating table disposed in the storage tank so as to be movable up and down. A lifting control device for controlling the lifting table, a laser irradiation device for irradiating a laser toward the liquid surface of the solvent, and a control instruction for the laser irradiation device and the lifting control device. And a shaping control device for shaping the shaped object.

[0013] Further, a partition wall is provided to cover the upper portion of the storage tank so as to shut off the outside air, and a space surrounded by the partition wall is filled with an inert gas, and modeling is performed therein. I do.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an ultrafine particle dispersion solution in which metal ultrafine particles are dispersed in a solvent such as toluene, xylene, or organic fluoride, and 2 denotes an ultrafine particle dispersion solution. The storage tank 3 is in the ultrafine particle dispersion solution 1,
An elevating table which is arranged so as to be able to move up and down, and on which the modeled object 4 is placed;
5 is an elevating control device for elevating and lowering the elevating table 3;
Is a laser generator that generates an infrared laser, 7 is a laser shutter that adjusts the laser output generated by the laser generator 6, 8 is a projector that irradiates the liquid surface of the ultrafine particle dispersion solution 1 with an infrared laser, and 9 is This is a movement control device that moves the projector 8 in the XY directions and moves the laser beam to a desired position.

The laser generator 6, laser shutter 7, and projector 8 correspond to a laser irradiation device of the present invention.

A control unit 10 controls the movement control unit 9 to irradiate a laser from a projector 8 onto a liquid surface at a desired position of the ultrafine particle dispersion solution 1 to form a modeled object 4 and to proceed with the formation of the modeled object 4. Is a control computer serving as a modeling control device that controls the ascending / descending table 3 to descend at predetermined pitches to form a stack of molded objects.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a partition wall that covers the upper portion of the storage tank 1 and blocks outside air, and 12 denotes a chamber formed by the partition wall 11. The chamber 12 is filled with an inert gas excluding oxygen and nitrogen in order to maintain the activity of the metal ultra-fine particles in the ultra-fine particle dispersion solution 1 at a high level.

The metal ultra-fine particles dispersed in the ultra-fine particle dispersion solution 1 are, for example, materials such as iron, copper, gold, and palladium having a diameter of several tens nm or less.

The ultrafine metal particles are treated so as to increase their activity. In order to increase the activity of the ultrafine metal particles, the material is first pulverized in a rare gas (inert gas) such as helium, argon, or krypton to generate ultrafine metal particles. Next, the generated ultrafine metal particles are dispersed and mixed in a solvent having a surfactant action so as not to come into contact with oxygen or nitrogen, thereby forming an ultrafine particle dispersion solution. The solvent is selected to have a boiling point such that the solvent evaporates at the heating temperature of the laser during molding. Therefore, since the metal ultrafine particles do not come into contact with oxygen or nitrogen, no oxide film is formed on the surface, and the metal ultrafine particles can be used with high activity.

At the time of shaping, a laser is applied to the surface of the ultrafine particle dispersion solution 1 to volatilize the solvent at the position where shaping is desired, and the fine particles in the metal are brought into contact with each other. Since the ultrafine particles have high activity, a metal bond is generated at the time of contact.
The laser output does not need to be high enough to melt the ultrafine metal particles, but may be an output that assists the metal bonding, that is, an output that raises the ultrafine metal particles to about 100 degrees.

In the conventional method of molding a metal powder by melting the metal powder, an oxide film is generated on the surface of the metal powder when the metal powder comes into contact with the surrounding air. It had to be melted at a high temperature by all means because the film was in the way. In the present invention,
Since the activity of the surface of the ultrafine metal particles is increased, the temperature does not need to be as high as that described above.

[0022]

According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the strength of a modeled object and to suppress distortion of the modeled object due to thermal expansion and contraction during manufacturing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ultrafine particle dispersion solution 2 Storage tank 3 Elevating table 4 Modeling object 8 Projector 10 Control computer

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A storage tank for storing a solvent in which ultra-fine metal particles having a high activity are dispersed and stored therein, a lifting table arranged in the storage tank so as to be movable up and down, and a lifting control for raising and lowering the lifting table. A device, a laser irradiation device that irradiates a laser toward the liquid surface of the solvent, and a control device for performing a control instruction of the laser irradiation device and the elevation control device, and forming a desired molded object on the elevation table. A shaping apparatus comprising: 2. A partition wall for covering an upper part of the storage tank so as to block the outside air, wherein a space surrounded by the partition wall is filled with an inert gas, and a molding is performed therein. The modeling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein