Additive manufacturing of three-dimensional articles

1. A method for prolonging lifetime of at least one electron beam source when forming a three-dimensional article through successively depositing individual layers of powder material that are fused together so as to form the article, the method comprising the steps of:

providing the at least one electron beam source emitting an electron beam for at least one of heating or fusing the powder material, wherein the electron beam source comprises a cathode, an anode, and a grid between the cathode and anode;

setting an electron beam current, a cathode heating power, a grid potential (Ug) and a cathode potential (Uc) to predetermined start values;

reducing the cathode heating power with a predetermined value and decreasing a Uc-Ug potential difference for maintaining the predetermined electron beam current;

detecting an X-ray signals emanating from the electron beam source with at least one X-ray detector;

repeating said reducing and detecting steps until the detected X-ray signal is above a predetermined value; and

increasing the cathode heating power by a predetermined safety value from a threshold heating power value which resulted in x-ray signals, emanating from the electron beam source, above the predetermined value.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said reducing and detecting steps are performed during preheating of the surface prior to applying a new powder layer onto the surface, preheating of a new powder layer, powder distribution, and post heat treatment of an already fused powder layer or during the fusion process.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the start value of the electron beam current is between 20-50 mA.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein an updating of the cathode heating power is performed between a fusion process of each layer.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of arranging the X-ray detector in the electron beam source.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the start value of the cathode heating power is about 5 W.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined value in which the cathode heating power is reduced is in steps of 0.05 W.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined safety value is between 0.4-0.8 W.

9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of filtering out any x-ray signal not emanating from the electron beam source.

10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of arranging the at least one x-ray detector out of sight from x-ray signals emanating from the powder layer.

11. An apparatus for forming a three-dimensional article through successively depositing individual layers of powder material so as to form the article, the apparatus comprising:

at least one electron beam source emitting an electron beam for at least one of heating or fusing the powder material, where the electron beam source comprises a cathode, an anode, and a grid between the cathode and anode;

an X-ray detector for detecting x-rays emanating from the at least one electron beam source; and

at least one control unit, the at least one control unit being configured for:

setting an electron beam current, a cathode heating power, a grid potential (Ug) and a cathode potential (Uc) to predetermined start values,

reducing the cathode heating power with a predetermined value and decreasing a Uc-Ug potential difference for maintaining the predetermined electron beam current,

detecting, via the at least one X-ray detector, X-ray signals emanating from the electron beam source,

repeating the reducing and detecting steps until the detected X-ray signal is above a predetermined value, and

increasing the cathode heating power by a predetermined safety value from a threshold heating power value which resulted in x-ray signals, emanating from the electron beam source, above the predetermined value, so as to establish a usable range of heating powers of a cathode element of the electron beam source.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the start value of the electron beam current is between 20-50 mA.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the X-ray detector is positioned in the electron beam source.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the X-ray detector is positioned out of sight from x-ray signals emanating from the powder layer.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein at least one of:

the start value of the cathode heating power is about 5 W;

the predetermined safety value is between 0.4-0.8 W; or

the predetermined value in which the cathode heating power is reduced is in steps of 0.05 W.

16. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions embodied therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising at least one executable portion configured for:

setting an electron beam current, a cathode heating powder, a grid potential (Ug) and a cathode potential (Uc) to predetermined start values;

reducing the cathode heating power with a predetermined value and decreasing a Uc-Ug potential difference for maintaining the predetermined electron beam current;

detecting X-ray signal from the electron beam source with an X-ray detector;

repeating the reducing and detecting step until the detected X-ray signal is above a predetermined value; and

increasing the cathode heating power by a predetermined value from the value which resulted in x-ray signals above the predetermined value and using the electron beam for forming a three-dimensional article through successively depositing individual layers of powder material that are fused together so as to form the article.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein the at least one executable portion is further configured for updating the cathode heating power between a fusion process of each layer.

18. The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein the at least one executable portion is further configured for filtering out any x-ray signal not emanating from the electron beam source.

19. A method for prolonging lifetime of a triod electron beam source when forming a three-dimensional article through successively depositing individual layers of powder material that are fused together so as to form the article, the method comprising the steps of:

adjusting a cathode heating power with a control unit at a predetermined value above a threshold heating value, which threshold heating value creates a predetermined X-ray signal emanating from the triod electron beam source; and

fusing the three-dimensional article with the electron beam source having the cathode heating power at a predetermined value above a threshold heating value.