Multi-material powder laying system for powder laying type additive manufacturing equipment and control method of multi-material powder laying system

Abstract

The invention discloses a multi-material powder spreading system for powder spreading type additive manufacturing equipment and a control method of the multi-material powder spreading system, and relates to the technical field of powder spreading type additive manufacturing equipment.The system comprises a powder barrel, a powder feeding mechanism and a powder spreading mechanism, and the powder barrel is installed in a cavity of the powder spreading type additive manufacturing equipment; the powder feeding mechanism is installed in the powder barrel in a matched mode and used for conveying powder. The powder feeding mechanism comprises an L-shaped support, a powder feeding belt, a driving shaft and a rolling assembly. A plurality of powder grooves with outward openings are formed in the powder conveying belt at fixed intervals, and the driving shaft is controlled to rotate to drive the powder conveying belt and the powder grooves to rotate around the rolling assembly on the L-shaped support; the fallen powder is laid and conveyed into the forming cylinder through the powder laying mechanism; according to the device, the equipment integration cost is reduced while the structure of original powder laying type additive manufacturing equipment is not changed and the structural complexity of the equipment is not increased, and printing of multiple materials can be achieved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of powder spreading type additive manufacturing equipment, and in particular to a multi-material powder spreading system for powder spreading type additive manufacturing equipment and a control method thereof. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of industrial technology, the demand for component performance and multi-functions in the fields of aerospace, automotive industry, medical equipment, etc. has increased dramatically. A single material is difficult to meet the comprehensive performance requirements of components in application scenarios under complex working conditions. Developing multi-material components with a combination of multiple material properties is one of the effective solutions.

[0003] Traditional multi-material components are mainly prepared by processing technology that combines composite processes such as welding, rolling, and casting. However, its technical shortcomings such as limited processing material types, insufficient processing efficiency, and limited functional implementation limit the application and development of multi-material components. With the profound changes in the global manufacturing industry, additive manufacturing has developed into one of the key core technologies for improving the design and manufacturing capabilities of high-performance complex components. Among them, the emergence of multi-material additive manufacturing technology provides a new method to make up for the above technical deficiencies. Multi-material additive manufacturing technology is based on digital planning to stack materials point by point, line by line, and surface by surface layer by layer to form a multi-material component. It changes the traditional manufacturing thinking from the underlying logic and breaks through the constraints and limitations of traditional manufacturing methods.

[0004] At present, there are a wide range of commercial additive manufacturing equipment for the manufacture and production of single-material components on the market, but the components formed by this equipment are composed of a single material, which is difficult to meet the growing complex performance requirements of the industry. For processors who already have single-material additive manufacturing equipment, in order to achieve the purpose of forming multi-material components on the original equipment, the equipment is generally upgraded to a highly integrated multi-material equipment, but this method significantly increases the complexity of the equipment structure and the cost of integrating the powder-laying additive manufacturing equipment into a multi-material equipment, and it is difficult to achieve multi-material printing. Summary of the invention

[0005] In view of the shortcomings of the prior art that the complexity of the equipment structure is significantly increased and it is difficult to achieve multi-material printing, the present invention proposes a multi-material powder spreading system and a control method for a powder spreading additive manufacturing device, which can upgrade a single-material additive manufacturing device to a multi-material additive manufacturing device through simple assembly, thereby solving the problems existing in the prior art.

[0006] A multi-material powder spreading system for a powder spreading type additive manufacturing device, comprising:

[0007] A powder barrel is detachably mounted on a side of the cavity of the powder-spreading additive manufacturing equipment close to the forming cylinder;

[0008] A powder feeding mechanism is installed in the powder barrel; the powder feeding mechanism comprises an L-shaped bracket, a powder feeding belt, a driving assembly, and a plurality of powder grooves with openings facing outwards and installed at fixed intervals on the powder feeding belt; one end of the L-shaped bracket is installed in the powder barrel; the driving assembly is installed on the L-shaped bracket, and the powder feeding belt is laid on the L-shaped bracket and the driving assembly; the powder feeding mechanism drives the powder feeding belt and the powder groove to rotate on the L-shaped bracket by controlling the driving assembly;

[0009] The powder spreading mechanism is used to spread the powder delivered by the powder feeding mechanism into the forming cylinder.

[0010] Furthermore, the powder spreading mechanism includes a powder collecting channel and a scraper. The powder collecting channel is installed below the other end of the L-shaped bracket and is located between the powder barrel and the forming cylinder, and is used to collect the powder transported by the powder feeding mechanism and control the falling of the powder; the scraper is installed between the powder barrel and the powder collecting channel on the powder spreading arm that slides on the inner wall of the cavity of the powder spreading additive manufacturing equipment, and is used to spread the powder falling in the powder collecting channel into the forming cylinder.

[0011] Furthermore, the top opening of the powder collecting channel is set to be a wide opening, and the bottom opening is set to be a narrow opening, and the powder collecting channel is fixed to the powder spreading arm in the cavity of the powder spreading additive manufacturing equipment through a mounting clamp.

[0012] Furthermore, the driving assembly includes a driving shaft, a servo motor, a transmission rolling shaft and a follower rolling shaft; the driving shaft is connected to the servo motor; the powder feeding belt is laid on the driving shaft, the transmission rolling shaft and the follower rolling shaft; the driving shaft is controlled to rotate to drive the powder feeding belt to rotate around the transmission rolling shaft and the follower rolling shaft on the L-shaped bracket.

[0013] Furthermore, the servo motor is started and stopped by an infrared control switch installed on the powder barrel.

[0014] Furthermore, the opening length L1, width L2 and depth L3 of the powder trough meet the following requirements:

[0015] T>L2>D

[0016]

[0017] Among them, T is the cavity width of the powder-spreading additive manufacturing equipment, D is the width of the forming substrate, θ is the powder repose angle, h is the powder layer thickness, and l is the one-way displacement of the scraper.

[0018] The present invention also proposes a control method for a multi-material powder spreading system applied to a powder spreading type additive manufacturing device, comprising the following steps:

[0019] By controlling the rotation of the driving shaft, the powder conveying belt is driven to rotate around the rolling axis on the bracket, so that the powder trough collects the powder from the powder barrel;

[0020] The powder trough containing the powder is rotated to the top of the powder collecting channel, and the powder in the powder trough falls to the bottom of the cavity of the powder spreading additive manufacturing device through the powder collecting channel;

[0021] By controlling the scraper to slide along a set distance in the cavity of the powder spreading additive manufacturing equipment, the falling powder is spread into the forming cylinder.

[0022] The present invention provides a multi-material powder spreading system for powder spreading type additive manufacturing equipment, which has the following

[0023] Beneficial effects:

[0024] The present invention adopts a powder feeding belt and a powder trough as well as a powder spreading arm in the original powder spreading type additive manufacturing equipment to realize powder transportation based on powder dropping and powder spreading, and realizes the spreading of multiple materials through a detachably installed powder barrel, while improving the design freedom and forming ability of multi-material components; the detachable powder barrel, powder feeding mechanism, and powder spreading mechanism involved in the present invention are all independent of the original powder spreading type additive manufacturing equipment, and reduce the equipment integration cost without changing the structure of the original powder spreading type additive manufacturing equipment and increasing the complexity of the equipment structure, and can realize the printing of multiple materials. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of a multi-material powder spreading system used in a powder spreading type additive manufacturing device in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of a powder feeding device in a multi-material powder spreading system used in a powder spreading type additive manufacturing device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of a detachable powder barrel in a multi-material powder spreading system used in a powder spreading additive manufacturing device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of a powder control device in a multi-material powder spreading system used in a powder spreading additive manufacturing device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of the microstructure of the component in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] In the figure: 1-powder barrel, 1-1-connecting ring; 1-2-supporting structure; 1-3-infrared control switch; 2-servo motor; 3-driving shaft; 4-mounting plate; 5-transmission rolling shaft; 6-bracket; 6-1-protruding rod; 7-powder trough; 8-powder feeding belt; 9-follow-up rolling shaft; 10-powder collecting channel; 10-1-top of powder collecting channel; 10-2-bottom of powder collecting channel; 11-scraper height adjustment knob; 12-mounting clamp; 12-1 is fastening screw; 13-powder recovery port; 14-powder spreading arm; 15-scraper; 16-forming cylinder; 17-powder cylinder; 18-fixed powder recovery cylinder. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all the embodiments.

[0032] The present invention proposes a multi-material powder spreading system for powder spreading additive manufacturing equipment, including a detachable powder barrel 1, a powder feeding device, and a powder control device. The detachable powder barrel 1 is installed inside the cavity of the powder spreading additive manufacturing equipment. The powder feeding device includes a servo motor 2, a powder feeding belt 8, a powder feeding belt bracket 6, a driving shaft 3, a transmission rolling shaft 5 and a follower rolling shaft 9, and an infrared control switch 1-3.

[0033] like Figure 1 As shown, the powder feeding device is installed in the detachable powder barrel 1 by connecting the protruding rod 6-1, cooperating with the connecting ring 1-1 and the supporting structure 1-2. The detachable powder barrel 1 is connected to the left side of the cavity of the powder-spreading additive manufacturing equipment through the telescopic spring installed on the barrel wall.

[0034] The powder feeding device includes a servo motor 2, a powder feeding belt 8, a bracket 6 of the powder feeding belt, a driving shaft 3, and a rolling assembly. The rolling assembly includes a transmission rolling shaft 5, a follower rolling shaft 9, and an infrared control switch 1-3. The powder feeding belt 8 is installed on the bracket 6, the driving shaft 3, the follower rolling shaft 9, and the transmission rolling shaft 5, and the powder feeding belt 8 is driven by the driving shaft 3 to rotate clockwise at a uniform speed. The driving shaft 3 is driven by the servo motor 2 through the meshing of two bevel gears. The servo motor and the bevel gear are fixed to the mounting plate 4 by screws, and the mounting plate 4 is welded to the corner of the bracket 6. The right end of the powder feeding belt 8 of the powder feeding device is located at the upper end of the top of the powder receiving channel in the powder control device moved to the left. The powder trough 7 in the powder feeding device is installed on the powder feeding belt 8 at a fixed spacing of 10 mm, and the opening of the powder trough 7 faces outward. The width L1, length L2, and depth L3 of the powder trough opening are 2 mm, 100 mm, and 2 mm, respectively. The cavity width T of the powder-spreading additive manufacturing equipment is 140 mm, the width D of the forming substrate is 80 mm, the powder repose angle θ is 60°, the powder layer thickness h is 30 μm, and the scraper single-stroke displacement l is 200 mm.

[0035] The opening length L1, width L2 and depth L3 of the powder trough meet the following requirements:

[0036] T>L2>D

[0037]

[0038] Among them, T is the cavity width of the powder-spreading additive manufacturing equipment, D is the width of the forming substrate, θ is the repose angle (the angle formed by the free inclined surface of the powder accumulation layer and the horizontal plane), h is the thickness of the powder layer, and l is the one-way displacement of the scraper.

[0039] The powder control device includes a mounting clamp 12 and a powder collecting channel 10, and is fixed to the powder spreading arm 14 through the mounting clamp 12 and the fastening screw 12-1; the powder collecting channel has a wide opening at the top and a narrow opening at the bottom, which is used to adjust the metal powder transported by the powder feeding device to fall on the side close to the scraper.

[0040] The powder material in the powder tank 7 is sent to the upper end of the powder control device through the powder feeding belt 8, and the powder material falls to the side of the scraper 15 under the action of the powder control device. Among them, the working time of the powder feeding device is controlled by the infrared control switch 1-3. The falling metal powder will be spread to the forming cylinder 16 through the scraper 15; a scraper height adjustment knob 11 is set above the scraper to adjust the height of the scraper when it descends.

[0041] The powder recovery port 13 is on the left side of the forming cylinder and is used to recover excess powder during the powder spreading process; the fixed powder recovery cylinder 18 is on the right side of the powder cylinder and is used to recover excess powder after the powder spreading arm returns to its original position.

[0042] Based on the same inventive concept, the present invention proposes a control method for a multi-material powder spreading system applied to a powder spreading type additive manufacturing device, comprising the following steps:

[0043] By controlling the rotation of the driving shaft, the powder conveying belt is driven to rotate around the rolling axis on the bracket, so that the powder trough collects powder from the powder barrel.

[0044] The powder trough containing the powder is rotated to above the powder collecting channel, and the powder in the powder trough falls to the bottom of the cavity of the powder spreading additive manufacturing device through the powder collecting channel.

[0045] By controlling the scraper to slide along a set distance in the cavity of the powder spreading additive manufacturing equipment, the falling powder is spread into the forming cylinder.

[0046] Embodiment: When the Ti6Al4V powder material is spread from the powder cylinder 17 to the forming cylinder 16 by the scraper 15, the infrared control switch 1-3 controls the powder feeding device to stop. When the TiB2 material needs to be formed, the powder feeding amount of the powder cylinder 17 is 0, and the scraper 15 moves to the left side of the forming cylinder. At this time, the infrared control switch 1-3 controls the movement of the powder feeding device, and the TiB2 powder material is sent to the upper end of the powder control device through the powder trough 7 and the powder feeding belt 8. Under the action of the powder control device, the powder material falls to the right side of the scraper 15, and then the TiB2 powder is spread to the forming cylinder 16 by the scraper 15. In this process, the infrared control switch 1-3 is adjusted to the intermittent control mode, that is, the infrared control switch is turned on once every 2 triggers. Figure 5 Shown is a microstructure image of a Ti6Al4V / TiB2 layered multi-material formed by the multi-material powder spreading system of the device of the present invention and the control method thereof. The Ti6Al4V material layer and TiB2 are clearly distinguished, and there are no obvious defects such as cracks.

[0047] The detachable powder barrel, powder feeding mechanism, and powder spreading mechanism involved in the present invention are all independent of the original powder spreading additive manufacturing equipment, without changing the structure of the original powder spreading additive manufacturing equipment and increasing the complexity of the equipment structure. The present invention has a small number of components, a simple mechanical structure, and high equipment stability, and can achieve stable material transportation; at the same time, the present invention only uses a servo motor to drive the powder conveying process, and the driving method is simple, which does not significantly increase the operating cost of the equipment. The present invention uses a powder feeding belt and a powder trough as well as the powder spreading arm in the original powder spreading additive manufacturing equipment to realize powder transportation based on powder dropping and powder spreading, and combines with an infrared control switch to control the powder spreading amount, which not only realizes the precise transportation of powder in the forming cavity, but also improves the design freedom and forming ability of multi-material components.

[0048] The above description is only a preferred specific implementation manner of the present invention, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any technician familiar with the technical field can make equivalent replacements or changes according to the technical scheme and inventive concept of the present invention within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention, which should be covered by the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A multi-material powder spreading system for powder spreading additive manufacturing equipment, characterized in that: include: A powder barrel is detachably mounted on a side of the cavity of the powder-spreading additive manufacturing equipment close to the forming cylinder; A powder feeding mechanism is installed in the powder barrel; the powder feeding mechanism comprises an L-shaped bracket, a powder feeding belt, a driving assembly, and a plurality of powder grooves with openings facing outwards and installed at fixed intervals on the powder feeding belt; one end of the L-shaped bracket is installed in the powder barrel; the driving assembly is installed on the L-shaped bracket, and the powder feeding belt is laid on the L-shaped bracket and the driving assembly; the powder feeding mechanism drives the powder feeding belt and the powder groove to rotate on the L-shaped bracket by controlling the driving assembly; The powder spreading mechanism is used to spread the powder delivered by the powder feeding mechanism into the forming cylinder.

2. A multi-material powder spreading system for powder spreading type additive manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The powder spreading mechanism includes a powder collecting channel and a scraper. The powder collecting channel is installed below the other end of the L-shaped bracket and is located between the powder barrel and the forming cylinder, and is used to collect the powder transported by the powder feeding mechanism and control the falling of the powder; the scraper is installed between the powder barrel and the powder collecting channel on the powder spreading arm that slides on the inner wall of the cavity of the powder spreading additive manufacturing equipment, and is used to spread the powder falling in the powder collecting channel into the forming cylinder.

3. A multi-material powder spreading system for powder spreading type additive manufacturing equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: The top opening of the powder collecting channel is set to a wide opening, and the bottom opening is set to a narrow opening, and the powder collecting channel is fixed to the powder spreading arm in the cavity of the powder spreading additive manufacturing equipment through a mounting clamp.

4. A multi-material powder spreading system for powder spreading type additive manufacturing equipment according to claim 3, characterized in that: The driving assembly includes a driving shaft, a servo motor, a transmission rolling shaft and a follower rolling shaft; the driving shaft is connected to the servo motor; the powder feeding belt is laid on the driving shaft, the transmission rolling shaft and the follower rolling shaft; the driving shaft is controlled to rotate to drive the powder feeding belt to rotate around the transmission rolling shaft and the follower rolling shaft on the L-shaped bracket.

5. A multi-material powder spreading system for powder spreading type additive manufacturing equipment according to claim 4, characterized in that: The servo motor is controlled to start and stop by an infrared control switch installed on the powder barrel.

6. A multi-material powder spreading system for powder spreading type additive manufacturing equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: The opening length L1, width L2 and depth L3 of the powder trough meet the following requirements: T>L2>D Among them, T is the cavity width of the powder-spreading additive manufacturing equipment, D is the width of the forming substrate, θ is the powder repose angle, h is the powder layer thickness, and l is the one-way displacement of the scraper.

7. A control method for a multi-material powder spreading system for a powder spreading additive manufacturing device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: By controlling the rotation of the driving shaft, the powder conveying belt is driven to rotate around the rolling axis on the bracket, so that the powder trough collects the powder from the powder barrel; The powder trough containing the powder is rotated to the top of the powder collecting channel, and the powder in the powder trough falls to the bottom of the cavity of the powder spreading additive manufacturing device through the powder collecting channel; By controlling the scraper to slide along a set distance in the cavity of the powder spreading additive manufacturing equipment, the falling powder is spread into the forming cylinder.

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