ADDITIVE MANUFACTURE WITH LINE-SHAPED ENERGY BEAM
In one example in accordance with the present disclosure, an additive manufacturing system is described. The additive manufacturing system includes a build material distributor to deposit layers of powder build material on a bed and an agent distribution system to deposit an agent on a layer of powder build material in a pattern to form a slice of a three-dimensional object. The additive manufacturing system also includes an energy delivery system to generate a line-shaped beam of energy to selectively join build material particles with the agent deposited thereon. The line-shaped beam of energy spans a width of the bed. The additive manufacturing system also includes a scanning carriage to hold the energy delivery system and move the line-shaped beam of energy across the bed.
1 . An additive manufacturing system, comprising:
a build material distributor to deposit layers of powder build material on a bed;
an agent distribution system to deposit an agent on a layer of powder build material in a pattem to form a slice of a three-dimensional object;
an energy delivery system to generate a line-shaped beam of energy to selectively join build material particles with the agent deposited thereon, wherein the line-shaped beam of energy spans a width of the bed; and
a scanning carriage to hold the energy delivery system and move the line-shaped beam of energy across the bed.
2 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the energy delivery system comprises multiple energy-emitting elements.
3 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 2 , wherein:
each energy-emitting element is a laser; and
the energy delivery system further comprises, per laser:
a collimating lens connected via a fiber-optic cable to the laser; and
a Powell lens to fan out the energy beam to generate the line-shaped beam of energy across the bed.
4 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 3 , wherein:
the collimating lens and Powell lens are disposed on the scanning carriage; and
the laser is separated from the carriage.
5 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 4 , wherein:
the collimating lens is horizontal;
the Powell lens is vertical; and
the energy delivery system further comprises a mirror between the collimating lens and the Powell lens to alter an angle of the output of the laser.
6 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 3 , wherein:
the collimating lens is vertical; and
the Powell lens is vertical.
7 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the energy delivery system comprises:
an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) to emit light; and
a cylindrical lens to focus the light into the line-shaped beam of energy.
8 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the scanning carriage is at least one of:
a build material distributor carriage;
an agent distribution system carriage; and
a carriage independent of the build material distributor carriage and the agent distribution system carriage.
9 . A method, comprising:
depositing a layer of build material on a bed;
depositing an agent across the layer of build material in a pattern to form a slice of a three-dimensional object; and
scanning the line-shaped energy beam across the bed to selectively join build material particles with agent deposited thereon.
10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising a selecting a power for the line-shaped energy beam based on at least one of:
an energy beam length;
a carriage speed;
a composition of the build material; and
a target fluence value.
11 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising adjusting at least one of an intensity of the line-shaped energy beam and an exposure time by adjusting at least one of:
a width of the line-shaped energy beam; and
a power of the line-shaped energy beam.
12 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising coating at least one of a collimating lens and Powell lens to reduce reflection loss.
13 . An additive manufacturing system, comprising:
a build material distributor to deposit layers of powder build material on a bed;
an agent distribution system to deposit an agent on a layer of powder build material in a pattem to form a slice of a three-dimensional object;
an energy delivery system to selectively join build material particles with agent deposited thereon, the energy delivery system comprising:
an array of lasers;
a collimating lens per laser connected via a fiber-optic cable to a respective laser;
a Powell lens per collimating lens to alter a shape of an incoming circular energy beam to a line-shaped energy beam to span a width of the bed; and
a scanning carriage to traverse across the bed, wherein the collimating lens and Powell lens are disposed on the scanning carriage.
14 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 13 , wherein:
the agent is a binding agent; and
the energy delivery system is to cure the agent to remove solvent from a binding agent.
15 . The additive manufacturing system of claim 13 , wherein:
the agent is a fusing agent; and
the energy delivery system is to melt build material with the fusing agent deposited thereon.