Additive manufacturing methods and systems with fiber reinforcement

1. An additive manufacturing method for fabricating a fiber reinforced composite object, the additive manufacturing method comprising:

providing at least a first layer of powder material;

disposing a fiber material adjacent the at least first layer of powder material to form a fiber reinforcement layer; and,

applying a laser energy to the at least first layer of powder material so as to fuse the powder material into at least a first laser fused material layer adjacent the fiber reinforcement layer of the fiber-reinforced composite object.

2. The additive manufacturing method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing at least a second layer of powder material; and,

applying a laser energy to the at least second layer of powder material so as to fuse the powder material into at least a second laser fused material layer of the fiber reinforced composite object.

3. The additive manufacturing method of claim 2 , further comprising disposing an additional fiber material adjacent the at least second layer of powder material to form an additional fiber reinforcement layer.

4. The additive manufacturing method of claim 1 , wherein the powder material comprises a cobalt-chrome alloy.

5. The additive manufacturing method of claim 1 , wherein the fiber material comprises fiber.

6. The additive manufacturing method of claim 1 , wherein the fiber material comprises hollow tubes.

7. The additive manufacturing method of claim 1 , wherein applying the laser energy to the at least first layer of powder material comprises a plurality of passes of the laser energy.

8. The additive manufacturing method of claim 1 , wherein a diameter of the fiber material is less than or equal to a build layer thickness of the powder material.