Amorphous Metal Additive Manufacturing via Selective Laser Melting
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge in producing three-dimensional bodies of amorphous metal lies in achieving a sufficient cooling speed to prevent crystallization, which limits the size and thickness of the material and complicates the production of complex geometries, restricting the choice of alloy systems suitable for construction components.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the application of a metal powder layer on a heat-conducting base, where limited areas are melted using a radiation gun and rapidly cooled to form a continuous layer of amorphous metal, allowing for layer-by-layer construction of three-dimensional bodies with controlled contours, using a radiation gun to selectively melt and cool small areas to achieve the critical cooling speed required for amorphous solidification.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If rapid cooling is applied to produce amorphous metal, then amorphous structure is achieved, but the size and thickness of the material are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The melt is divided into small droplets that are sprayed onto the substrate. Each droplet cools independently and rapidly, forming amorphous metal. This segmentation allows the entire large component to be built from many small amorphous units, overcoming the size limitation while maintaining the amorphous structure throughout.
Solution Approach 2:
The process transitions from attempting to cool a large bulk volume (3D problem) to cooling small droplets (0D/1D problem). By changing the dimensional approach - spraying droplets onto a surface and building layer by layer - the method achieves amorphous structure in large components without requiring uniform cooling of the entire volume.
2Stability of the object's composition
If high cooling speed is used to form amorphous bulk structure, then amorphous metal is produced, but complicated geometries cannot be cast
Solution Approach 1:
The component geometry is built up layer by layer from sprayed droplets. Each layer can be selectively deposited to create complex three-dimensional shapes. This additive approach allows complicated geometries to be constructed that would be impossible to cast in a single operation, while each local region still achieves rapid cooling and amorphous structure.
3Stability of the object's composition
If rapid cooling is applied to achieve amorphous structure, then critical cooling speed is achieved, but the choice of alloy systems is limited
Solution Approach 1:
Different alloy powders can be sprayed in separate layers or mixed together. Each alloy system can be optimized independently for its specific amorphous formation requirements, then combined in the final component. This allows versatile material selection without compromising the rapid cooling needed for amorphous structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The process naturally produces composite structures when multiple alloy systems are used. Different metal powders are sprayed together or in sequence, creating multi-material components where each material maintains its amorphous characteristics. This expands the range of usable alloys beyond what can be achieved with single-material casting.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables the production of three-dimensional bodies with reduced limitations on size and complexity, allowing for the use of a wider range of alloy systems and facilitating the integration of amorphous metal parts within existing structures, while maintaining the amorphous structure through rapid cooling and heat management.
Implementation Method 1
a limited area of the layer is melted by a radiation gun
Implementation Method 2
a layer of metal powder is applied to a heat-conducting base and a limited area of the layer is melted
Implementation Method 3
the area is cooled so that the melted area solidifies into amorphous metal
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
A method of producing three-dimensional bodies which wholly or for selected parts consist of amorphous metal. A metal powder layer (4) is applied to a heat-conducting base (1, 13), and a limited area of the layer is melted by a radiation gun (5) and the area is cooled so that the melted area solidifies into amorphous metal. The melting process is successively repeated on new limited areas of the powder layer until a continuous layer of amorphous metal is formed. A new powder layer is applied and the method is repeated, the new layer being fused to underlying amorphous metal for successive construction of the three-dimensional body. The heat-conducting base can be a worktable or a body of amorphous metal or crystalline metal to which amorphous metal is added.