SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADDITIVE METAL MANUFACTURING
A system for additive metal manufacturing, including a deposition mechanism, a translation mechanism mounting the deposition mechanism to the working volume, and a stage. A method for additive metal manufacturing including: selectively depositing a material carrier within the working volume; removing an additive from the material carrier; and treating the resultant material.
1 . A method for forming a physical object from a virtual model comprising:
disposing an interface layer on a build plate;
within a working volume:
machining the interface layer;
fabricating an object precursor, comprising a geometry corresponding to the virtual model, on the interface layer, wherein fabricating the object precursor comprises iteratively:
depositing a build material layer over the interface layer; and
machining the build material layer, wherein the interface layer retains the build material layer during build material machining;
releasing the physical object from the build plate; and
sintering the object precursor to form the physical object.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the interface layer comprises an adhesive.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the adhesive comprises at least one of graphite, boron nitride, titania, or silica.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the interface layer retains the build material layer during build material machining with a layer attachment force, generated between the interface layer and the build material layer, that exceeds a shear force generated during machining the build material layer.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein machining the interface layer comprising planarizing the interface layer.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein a level face of the interface layer defines a reference point for fabricating the object precursor with the geometry corresponding to the virtual model.
7 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
depositing a support material layer; and
machining the support material layer.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein depositing the support material comprises depositing a raft of support material directly on the build plate.
9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising transferring the build plate, retaining the object precursor using the interface layer, from the working volume to a furnace, wherein the object precursor is sintered in the furnace.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein releasing the physical object from the build plate comprises decomposing the interface layer.