Thin Plate Additive Manufacturing With Substrate Cutting
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Additive manufacturing techniques, such as 3D printing, face challenges in producing thin plates of large dimensions with complex shapes, resulting in surfaces with asperities or irregularities and requiring special tools to avoid deformations, and often necessitate heat treatments to release stresses.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a substrate with a main surface that can be planar or have curvature, orifices, and grooves, where additive manufacturing uses successive layers of metallic powder fused by a laser or electron beam, with unfused powder removal and cutting operations to form a thin plate integral with a complex-shaped portion, ensuring high-quality finishes without deformation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If additive manufacturing is used to produce thin plates of large dimensions, then complex shapes can be manufactured, but surface quality deteriorates with asperities and irregularities
Solution Approach 1:
The manufacturing process is divided into two distinct stages: first manufacturing a thick substrate with the complex-shaped portion using additive manufacturing, then cutting the thin plate from this substrate using conventional techniques. This segmentation allows each process to optimize for its specific requirement - additive manufacturing for complex geometry and conventional cutting for surface quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The complex-shaped portion is preliminarily formed in a thick substrate before the final thin plate is produced. By first creating the complex geometry in a thicker material that can support the additive manufacturing process, then subsequently cutting to the final thin dimensions, the method achieves both complex shapes and high surface quality.
2Shape
If additive manufacturing is used for thin plates of large dimensions, then complex shapes can be obtained, but deformations and twists occur due to strong localized energy inputs
Solution Approach 1:
The process separates the complex shape formation (done in a thick substrate that provides structural stability during manufacturing) from the final thin plate production. The thick substrate acts as a stable platform during additive manufacturing, preventing deformations, and only after successful manufacturing is the thin plate cut from it.
Solution Approach 2:
The complex-shaped portion is preliminarily formed in a thick substrate that provides mechanical stability during the additive manufacturing process. This preliminary formation in a thicker, more stable material prevents deformations and twists that would occur if attempting to directly manufacture thin plates with complex shapes.
3Shape
If additive manufacturing is used for thin plates, then complex shapes can be produced, but special tools and heat treatments are required to release stresses
Solution Approach 1:
The method segments the manufacturing process into additive manufacturing of a thick substrate followed by conventional cutting of the thin plate. This eliminates the need for special tools designed for thin plate additive manufacturing and subsequent heat treatments, as the cutting process naturally releases stresses without requiring additional equipment or processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The complex-shaped portion is preliminarily formed in a thick substrate that can be handled with conventional tools. This preliminary formation allows the use of standard manufacturing equipment rather than requiring special tools, and the subsequent cutting process inherently manages stress release without needing separate heat treatment operations.
4Length of stationary object
If the thickness of the thin plate is reduced to achieve sheet-type dimensions, then large dimensions can be obtained, but manufacturing difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The thin plate is not directly manufactured at its final thin dimensions. Instead, the complex-shaped portion is preliminarily formed in a thick substrate that is much easier to manufacture using additive manufacturing. Only after this preliminary formation is the thin plate cut from the substrate, converting a difficult direct manufacturing problem into an easier two-step process.
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
Enables the production of thin plates with complex shapes and large dimensions, achieving high-quality finishes and avoiding deformations, thus overcoming the limitations of conventional additive manufacturing methods.
Implementation Method 1
the melting of the powder is carried out by a laser beam or by an electron beam
Implementation Method 2
the melting of the powder is carried out by a laser beam or by an electron beam
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a piece of equipment (10), comprising the following steps: supplying a substrate (40) having an upper face including a large main surface (16); supplying a computer model including spatial coordinates of said main surface and a second portion (14) of the piece of equipment; then additive manufacturing of the second portion from the main surface (16), so as to join said main surface and said second portion; then cutting in a thickness (44) of the substrate to obtain a thin plate (12) having the main surface (16) joined to the second portion (14) of the piece of equipment.