Additive Manufacturing Beam Profile Control to Prevent Deep Welding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Additive manufacturing processes, particularly those using laser sintering or selective laser melting, face challenges with energy efficiency and material loss due to the deep welding process, which leads to increased energy consumption, material waste, and defects like pores and splashes, limiting productivity and increasing costs.
Innovation Solution
Generating control data for additive manufacturing that optimizes the intensity profile of the energy beam to prevent deep welding by defining optimization criteria for a target temperature distribution, ensuring the energy beam has an essentially non-rotationally symmetrical intensity profile, which maintains an ideal surface temperature and reduces thermocapillary convection, thereby maximizing energy input and minimizing material loss.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a rotationally symmetrical intensity profile (Gaussian profile) is used for the energy beam, then the manufacturing process is simple and easy to implement, but energy efficiency decreases and material loss increases due to deep welding and keyhole formation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by using an essentially non-rotationally symmetrical intensity profile for the energy beam instead of the conventional Gaussian profile. This asymmetric distribution prevents keyhole formation and deep welding, thereby reducing energy loss and improving energy efficiency while maintaining manufacturing simplicity
2Ease of manufacture
If a rotationally symmetrical intensity profile (Gaussian profile) is used for the energy beam, then the manufacturing process is simple and easy to implement, but material loss increases due to deep welding and keyhole formation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by using an essentially non-rotationally symmetrical intensity profile for the energy beam instead of the conventional Gaussian profile. This asymmetric distribution prevents keyhole formation and deep welding, thereby reducing material loss through evaporation and splashes while maintaining manufacturing simplicity
3Length of moving object
If the energy beam creates deep welding with keyhole formation, then penetration depth is increased, but energy consumption increases and material is lost through evaporation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by using an essentially non-rotationally symmetrical intensity profile for the energy beam. This asymmetric distribution achieves effective penetration without keyhole formation, thereby reducing energy consumption associated with vaporization while maintaining adequate penetration depth
4Length of moving object
If the energy beam creates deep welding with keyhole formation, then penetration depth is increased, but material loss occurs through evaporation and splashes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by using an essentially non-rotationally symmetrical intensity profile for the energy beam. This asymmetric distribution achieves effective penetration without keyhole formation, thereby preventing material loss through evaporation and reducing splashes
5Ease of manufacture
If conventional Gaussian intensity profile is used, then the energy beam is easy to generate, but thermocapillary convection increases causing defects like pores and splashes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by using an essentially non-rotationally symmetrical intensity profile for the energy beam instead of the conventional Gaussian profile. This asymmetric distribution reduces thermocapillary convection, thereby preventing defects such as pores and splashes and improving product quality while maintaining ease of generation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies parameter changes by modifying the intensity profile parameters of the energy beam from a rotationally symmetrical Gaussian distribution to an essentially non-rotationally symmetrical distribution. This parameter change reduces thermocapillary convection and prevents defects, improving product quality
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 enhances energy efficiency, reduces material waste, and improves the quality of the manufactured product by maintaining a uniform temperature distribution, preventing unwanted evaporation and splashes, and allowing for thicker layers with better detail precision.
Implementation Method 1
building material is irradiated with at least one energy beam for solidification on a construction field
Implementation Method 2
the building material is irradiated with at least one energy beam for solidification on a construction field and thereby an impact surface of the Energy beam is moved on the construction site in order to melt the building material
Implementation Method 3
reduces thermocapillary convection, thereby maximizing energy input and minimizing material loss
Implementation Method 4
preventing unwanted evaporation and splashes
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method and a control data generating device (54, 54') for generating control data (BSD, PSD) for an additive manufacturing device (1), wherein construction material (13) is built up and selectively solidified. For this purpose, the construction material (13) is irradiated with at least one energy beam (AL) at the construction site (8), wherein an impact surface (22) of the energy beam (AL) is moved on the construction site (8) in order to melt the construction material (13) in a target region (ΓZ) in and around the impact surface (22). In order to generate the control data (BSD, PSD), optimisation criteria (OK) and/or secondary and/or boundary conditions (WB) relating to a local target temperature distribution (TV) in the target region (ΓZ) of the construction material (13) is determined so that the construction material (13) is melted using conduction mode welding. This is used to determine an optimised intensity profile (IO) of the energy beam (AL), which is substantially not rotationally symmetrical at the impact surface (22) on the construction site (8). The construction material (13) is irradiated with an energy beam (AL) at the determined optimised intensity profile (IO). The invention also relates to a control method and to a control device (50) for an additive manufacturing device (1), and to a corresponding additive manufacturing device (2).