JPH01232027A - Shaping method using heat fusing powder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shape a specified shape material with an inexpensive material by moving beams toward a flat layer of powder to irradiate it, forming a section shaped molten curved material, feeding the powder continuously, directing the beams and forming the molten cured material. CONSTITUTION:Heat fusing powder 18 is fed from a quantitative feeder 20 onto a table 12 to form flat layer. Then, beams 32 are directed toward the upper surface of a flat layer of the powder 18 by actuating a laser transmitter 30 and also the beams 32 are moved after the section shape of an object shaped material by actuating a laser scanning device 26 and varying continuously the angle of a mirror 24. The powder 18 irradiated with the beams 32 is immediately melted and cured to form a molten cured material 34. Further, a table 12 is lowered by required height, and the powder 18 is fed onto a powder flat layer, while the beams 32 are directed and moved. The object shaped material is formed as a laminated molten cured material 34 by repeating said procedures. The object shaped material shaped thus can be shaped with an inexpensive material such as metallic powder or the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a three-dimensional shaped body using a heat-fusible powder such as a metal powder or a thermoplastic resin powder.

Specifically, the present invention relates to a shaping method that includes a step of irradiating the powder with a high energy density beam such as a laser beam to partially form a molten hardened body.

[Prior Art] A light curable fluid material is irradiated with a light beam to harden the irradiated portion, and this hardened portion is made to continue in the horizontal direction, and a photo curable fluid material is further supplied above the irradiated portion to perform the same process. JP-A No. 60-247515, 62-8 discloses an optical modeling method in which the cured body is made to continue in the vertical direction by curing, and by repeating this process, a cured body of the desired shape is manufactured.
It is publicly known from No. 35966, No. 62-101408, etc. In addition, light is irradiated through a modeling mask having a slit corresponding to one cross section of the cured product in the desired shape to cure the material, and then an uncured photocurable fluid material is placed on the cured layer and the material is used for modeling. There is also an optical modeling method in which a cured product with the desired shape is manufactured by replacing the mask with one having a slit corresponding to one cross section adjacent to the height direction of the cured product with the desired shape and repeating the process of irradiating light again. It is publicly known (for example, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-35966).

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] According to the above-mentioned modeling method using the photocurable fluid material, it is possible to manufacture hollow bodies etc. that cannot be manufactured by casting methods, but on the other hand, there are the following problems to be solved. do.

(a) Photocurable fluid materials are generally extremely expensive.

(b) The cured product of the photocurable fluid material has low strength.

(c) The photocurable fluid material shrinks significantly during curing, resulting in cracks and large errors in the dimensions of the cured product.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A modeling method using a heat-fusible powder (hereinafter abbreviated as powder) of the present invention includes the following first, second, and third steps.

The first step is to level the powder to form a flat layer.

The second step is a step of irradiating the flat layer with a high energy density beam (hereinafter referred to as beam) while moving it following the cross-sectional shape of the object to form a molten hardened product with the cross-sectional shape. It is.

The third step is performed following the second step, in which powder is supplied onto the molten and hardened material and the flat layer, and the powder is leveled flat to form a flat layer, and then the powder is directed onto the flat layer again. In this process, a molten hardened product is formed by irradiating the beam, and the formation of this flat layer and the formation of a molten hardened product by irradiation of the beam are repeated.

[Operation] When the flat layer of powder is moved while being irradiated with a beam, the powder in the portion irradiated with the beam melts or softens, and the powders fuse or fuse together. After the beam passes, this fused or fused material is heat-absorbed by the surroundings, and is cooled and hardened to become a hardened material. (In this invention, the material that has been cured after being melted twice is referred to as a molten hardened material.) By continuously moving the beam to follow the cross-sectional shape of the object, the cross-sectional shape can be changed. A molten and hardened product is formed with a shape that follows.

Further powder is supplied on top of this molten hardened material and a flat layer of powder around the molten hardened material to make it flat, and when the beam is irradiated again in the same manner, the molten hardened material that was previously formed is Another molten hardened material is formed on the upper side. In this way, by stacking the molten and hardened materials in the vertical direction,
The object shape can be formed as a stack of thin cross-sections such as so-called ring slices.

Since this molded product is made from metal powder or resin powder other than the photocurable fluid material, it is inexpensive, has high strength, and has little curing shrinkage.

[Example] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the method of the present invention.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a container, and a table 12 is installed inside the container so that it can be raised and lowered, and can be raised and lowered by a drive device 14. Powder (metal powder in this embodiment) 18 is housed in a container 10 on this table 12. Reference numeral 20 denotes a powder quantitative feeder, which in this embodiment is movable back and forth along the upper surface of the container 10, and is equipped with a powder leveling plate 22.

A mirror 24 is installed above the container 10. The mirror 24 is tiltable by a laser scanner device 26, and irradiates the powder 18 with a beam 32 (laser beam in this embodiment) incident from a transmitter 30.
In addition, the structure is such that the irradiation position can be continuously moved by tilting the irradiation position.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the edge of the table 12 and the container 1
0 and the upper inner edge of the table 12 is separated by a bellows-shaped expandable sealing material 28, which is configured to prevent powder from spilling from the edge of the table 12.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of the above-mentioned apparatus, and as shown, the laser scanner station 26, table drive device 14, powder quantitative feeder 20, and laser transmitter 30 are controlled by a computer 36. There is.

Next, a modeling method using such an apparatus will be explained.

First, the table 12 is positioned using the table driving device 14 so that the top surface of the table 12 is slightly below the top surface of the container 10. Then, the powder is supplied from the quantitative feeder 20 onto the table 12, and the quantitative feeder 20 is moved from one end of the upper surface of the container 10 to the other end, so that the powder is evenly distributed on the table 12. to form a flat layer.

Next, the laser transmitter 30 is activated to irradiate the beam 32 onto the top surface of the flat layer of the powder 18. At the same time, the laser scanner device 26 is operated to continuously change the angle of the mirror 24, thereby making the beam 32 move eight times along the cross-sectional shape of the target object. The powder 18 irradiated with the beam immediately melts, and after the beam passes, this melt hardens to become a molten hardened body 34.

After the beam 32 is moved along the cross-sectional shape of the target object, the irradiation of the beam 32 is temporarily stopped, and the table 12 is lowered by a required height.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the powder is again supplied from the quantitative feeder 20 onto the powder flat layer that had existed up until then, and by moving the quantitative cofeeder 20, the flat layer and the molten layer that has been formed are melted. A new flat layer of powder is formed on the cured body 34. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5, the beam 32 is irradiated from the laser transmitter 30 again toward the flat layer of the powder 18.
And the beam 32 is continuously moved by the laser scanner device 26. By repeating the above procedure, a target shaped body is formed as a stack of molten and hardened bodies 34.

This object shaped body is made of a substance other than a photocurable fluid such as metal powder, and is inexpensive, has little curing shrinkage, is free from cracking, and has good dimensional accuracy.

In the above embodiment, the table 12 is gradually lowered and metal powder is poured onto it one after another to form a flat layer surface toward the upper surface of the container 10, but in the present invention, the table 12 is fixed. In this case, for example, the mirror 24 may be configured to rise in proportion to the rise of the top surface of the flat layer, or A lens operation is performed to shift the focal position of the beam 32 upward.

In the present invention, the powder includes various powders such as powders of metals and alloys such as iron, copper, lead, and aluminum, powders of thermoplastic resins such as acrylic resin and vinyl chloride resin, and powders of inorganic thermosoftening substances such as glass. can be adopted.

As the beam, various beams having an energy density capable of heating and melting the powder, such as an electron beam of a laser such as ruby, YAG, carbon dioxide, or argon, can be used.

[Effects] As described above, according to the method of the present invention, a target-shaped object can be formed using inexpensive materials. The resulting shaped body exhibits little shrinkage during curing, has good precision, and does not suffer from distortion or cracking due to shrinkage, ensuring that it is of sound quality.

In the present invention, especially if a metal powder is used as the powder, a molded body with extremely high strength can be produced, and this molded body can be used as a mold matrix for mold production, copying, etc.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of the method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the main parts of the device, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of the device, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are It is a schematic sectional view explaining operation. 10... Container, 12... Table, 14.
...Table drive device, 18...Powder, 20...Quantitative feeder, 24
···mirror.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) The first step is to level the heat-fusible powder to form a flat layer, and irradiate the flat layer with a high-energy density beam while moving it along the cross-sectional shape of the target object. a second step of forming a molten and cured product having a cross-sectional shape; after the second step, a hot melt powder is supplied onto the molten and cured product and the flat layer to form a flat layer; , a third step of irradiating the beam again toward the flat layer to form a molten hardened material, and repeating the formation of this flat layer and the formation of the molten hardened material by irradiating the beam. A modeling method using meltable powder.