Melting beam surface processing in additive manufacturing

1. An additive manufacturing (AM) system comprising:

a process chamber for additively manufacturing a component, the process chamber at least partially housing:

a build platform;

at least one melting beam scanner over the build platform, each melting beam scanner configured to emit a melting beam for melting a powder on the build platform;

an applicator for applying layers of the powder to the build platform; and

a reservoir coupled with the applicator for storing the powder; and

a computer system coupled with the at least one melting beam scanner, the computer system configured to:

apply the melting beam to a layer of the powder on the build platform along a primary melting path; and

apply the melting beam to a solidified portion of the layer of the powder on the build platform along a re-melting path after the applying of the melting beam along the primary melting path, wherein the re-melting path overlaps a portion of the primary melting path and is applied only in an area proximate a perimeter of the component.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the re-melting path spans the area within the build platform proximate the perimeter, and wherein the area of the re-melting path has a distinct width than a width of an area of the primary melting path.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the applying of the melting beam along the re-melting path is performed prior to applying an additional layer of the powder over the layer of the powder.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the primary melting path has a first path direction, and the re-melting path has a second path direction, wherein the first path direction is distinct from the second path direction.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the second path direction forms an angle with the first path direction of approximately 0 degrees to approximately 180 degrees.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the re-melting path is applied to selected distinct solidified layers of the component.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the area proximate the perimeter of the layer of the powder within the build platform extends approximately 0-3 millimeters from the perimeter.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the melting beam further applies the re-melting path in an area proximate a designed aperture in the component, the designed aperture extending through the layer of the powder.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the re-melting path has a distinct set of process parameters from the primary melting path, and wherein applying the melting beam along the re-melting path removes at least one of a crack or other metallurgical defect in the layer.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the re-melting path includes a sinusoidal or spiraling path having continuous segments overlapping a plurality of primary melting paths.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the component includes a multi-layer component, and wherein the computer system is configured to control the applying of the melting beam along the primary melting path and the re-melting path for a plurality of layers of the multi-layer component.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the primary melting path includes a set of parallel path vectors separated by a first spacing, and wherein the re-melting path includes a set of parallel path vectors separated by a second spacing distinct from the first spacing.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the re-melting path is applied in a non-uniform pattern along the area proximate the perimeter of the component.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a computer program product comprising program code, which when executed by at least one computing device, causes the at least one computing device to control an additive manufacturing (AM) system having a process chamber for additively manufacturing a component, the process chamber at least partially housing: a build platform; at least one melting beam scanner over the build platform, each melting beam scanner configured to emit a melting beam for melting a powder on the build platform; an applicator for applying layers of the powder to the build platform; and a reservoir coupled with the applicator for storing the powder, by:

instructing the at least one melting beam scanner to:

apply the melting beam to a layer of the powder on the build platform along a primary melting path; and

apply the melting beam to a solidified portion of the layer of the powder on the build platform along a re-melting path after the applying of the melting beam along the primary melting path, wherein the re-melting path overlaps a portion of the primary melting path and is applied only in an area proximate a perimeter of the component.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the re-melting path spans the area within the build platform proximate the perimeter of the component, and wherein the area of the re-melting path has a distinct width than a width of an area of the primary melting path.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the applying of the melting beam along the re-melting path is performed prior to applying an additional layer of the powder over the layer of the powder.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the primary melting path has a first path direction, and the re-melting path has a second path direction, wherein the first path direction is distinct from the second path direction.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the re-melting path is applied to selected distinct layers of the powder in the component.

19. A computer-implemented method of controlling an additive manufacturing (AM) system having a process chamber for additively manufacturing a component, the process chamber at least partially housing: a build platform; at least one melting beam scanner over the build platform, each melting beam scanner configured to emit a melting beam for melting a powder on the build platform; an applicator for applying layers of the powder to the build platform; and a reservoir coupled with the applicator for storing the powder, the method comprising:

instructing the at least one melting beam scanner to:

apply the melting beam to a layer of the powder on the build platform along a primary melting path; and

apply the melting beam to a solidified portion of the layer of the powder on the build platform along a re-melting path after the applying of the melting beam along the primary melting path, wherein the re-melting path overlaps a portion of the primary melting path and is applied only in an area proximate a perimeter of the component.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19 , wherein the applying of the melting beam along the re-melting path is performed prior to applying an additional layer of the powder over the layer of the powder.