Tyre-Mould Liner Reinforcement for Stable Powder-Bed Additive Build
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Solution Overview
Problem
Additive manufacturing processes like selective fusion of powder layers often result in vibrations, deformations, and damage to small-sectioned mold trim elements due to mechanical stresses and heat diffusion, leading to stress concentrations and microcracks during the manufacturing of complex-shaped parts like tire mold strips.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating local reinforcing elements with a split tubular shape around the lateral ends of the parts, which are made integral with the fused powder layers and extend perpendicular to the layer stacking direction, along with unfused powder filling the space between the reinforcing element and the part, enhances rigidity and reduces deformation risks during manufacturing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If selective melting of powder layers is used to manufacture complex-shaped parts, then manufacturing precision and ability to create complex geometries are improved, but vibrations, deformations, and damage to small-sectioned elements occur due to mechanical stresses and heat diffusion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by creating reinforcing structures (support walls and base layers) before manufacturing the final part. These reinforcing elements are built simultaneously with the part during the additive manufacturing process, providing structural support during layer deposition and preventing vibrations and deformations before they can occur. The support structures are then removed in a final step, leaving the intact final part.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite materials by combining the final part material with temporary reinforcing materials (support walls and base layers) during the manufacturing process. This composite structure provides the necessary rigidity and support during additive manufacturing, preventing damage to small-sectioned elements, and the temporary materials are subsequently removed to reveal the final part.
2Reliability
If reinforcement elements are added to prevent deformation during separation, then structural integrity is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the final part and reinforcing support structures into a single integrated assembly during the additive manufacturing process. Both the part and support walls are deposited simultaneously layer-by-layer, forming a unified structure that is manufactured in one continuous process rather than requiring separate manufacturing and assembly steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The reinforcing support structures serve dual purposes: they provide structural support during manufacturing and simultaneously act as the final support for the part. The support walls and base layers self-organize to provide maximum structural benefit while minimizing interference with the final part geometry, and they are removed through a standardized process that does not require additional complex equipment.
3Reliability
If support structures are added during manufacturing, then vibrations and deformations are reduced, but separation and post-processing difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the extraction principle by designing the reinforcing support structures to be temporarily integrated during manufacturing and then completely removed in a final separation step. The support walls and base layers are deliberately designed to be extractable, allowing the final part to be separated from the manufacturing platform and support structures through wire EDM or other removal processes, leaving only the clean final part.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the manufacturing process into distinct phases: construction phase where the part and support structures are built together, and separation phase where support structures are removed. The support structures are designed as separate, removable elements (base layers and support walls) that can be systematically extracted without damaging the final part, facilitating easier post-processing.
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 effectively limits vibrations, deformations, and damage by maintaining the part's position and shape integrity, reducing stress concentrations and microcracks, and facilitating easier separation from the manufacturing plate.
Implementation Method 1
When selective melting is achieved using a laser beam, it is called laser sintering. The laser sintering technique involves building the laminate layer by layer, stacking layers of powder consolidated and fused together by the laser beam
Implementation Method 2
The main advantage of manufacturing by selective melting of superimposed powder layers, more commonly known as sintering
Implementation Method 3
internal stress concentrations are generated within the lamellae by heat diffusion during the melting stages
Data Source
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AI summary
The method for the additive manufacture of at least one component by sintering or fusing powder using at least a beam of energy involves the following steps: -a) the manufacture, by deposition and selective fusion of stacked layers of powder of at least one intermediate element comprising the component and at least one local reinforcing element of slit tubular shape surrounding one of the lateral end faces of the component and coming to face each of the frontal faces of said component which are adjacent to said end face, said reinforcing element extending in a direction substantially parallel to the direction in which the layers are stacked, and -b) detaching the component from the local reinforcing element.