Atmosphere protection system for laser additive manufacturing and laser additive manufacturing equipment

Abstract

The invention provides an atmosphere protection system for laser additive manufacturing. The atmosphere protection system comprises a sealing device and sliding components fixedly connected with the outer wall of the sealing device; the sealing device is a forming cavity used for carrying out laser additive manufacturing, the sealing device comprises a rigid component and a flexible component, wherein the rigid component and the flexible component are used for defining the forming cavity in the vertical direction, and the flexible component is connected with the rigid component in the verticaldirection; the sliding components can slide on external guide rails in the vertical direction, the rigid component of the sealing device is driven in the vertical direction along with the sliding components sliding on the external guide rails in the vertical direction so that the flexible component can be driven by the rigid component to be compressed or stretched, and then the volume of the forming cavity can be reduced or increased. The invention further provides laser additive manufacturing equipment comprising the atmosphere protection system.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention belongs to the technical field of laser additive manufacturing equipment, and in particular relates to an atmosphere protection system for laser additive manufacturing and laser additive manufacturing equipment including the atmosphere protection system. Background technique [0002] Laser additive manufacturing technology of metal components, using the basic principle of rapid prototyping, first forms the three-dimensional CAD model of the part in the computer, and then slices and layers the model according to a certain thickness, and converts the three-dimensional shape information of the part into two-dimensional contour information , under the control of the computer numerical control system, through the layer-by-layer melting and accumulation of metal raw materials by high-energy laser beams, the "near net shape" manufacturing of metal parts is completed directly from the part CAD model. Laser additive manufacturing technology overco...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0004] The laser additive manufacturing process is a process in which metal materials are melted and "solidified and accumulated layer by layer". The height of the formed components increases layer by layer from low to high. Shaped cavity, this kind of forming cavity is generally manufactured into a relatively large volume, usually the design height of the forming cavity needs to be at least twice the maximum allowable forming height of the part, which takes up a lot of space

Inert gas protection is required before laser forming. Since the volume of the large rigid forming cavity is fixed, the time for filling and discharging the protective gas is longer, and it is more difficult to maintain a uniform atmosphere in the forming cavity, which seriously affects the production process and leads to low production efficiency. Increased costs and unnecessary waste of resources

This problem is especially prominent when forming small and medium-sized parts

In addition, an oversized forming cavity takes up a lot of space, and the additional costs of workshops and materials are greatly increased.

Therefore, the traditional rigid forming cavity increases production costs, reduces production efficiency and wastes resources, hindering the further development of additive manufacturing technology

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