3d Systems, Inc.

Don Titterington

Trevor James Snyder

Bo Wu

Patricia A Wang

Chengsung Chan

In one aspect, methods of printing a 3D article are described herein. In some embodiments, a method of printing a 3D article comprises selectively depositing a first portion of build material in a fluid state onto a substrate to form a first region of build material; selectively depositing a first portion of support material in a fluid state to form a first region of support material; and selectively depositing a second portion of build material in a fluid state to form a second region of build material, wherein the first region of support material is disposed between the first region of build material and the second region of build material in a z-direction of the article. In some cases, the first region of support material forms a grayscale pattern and/or a CMY color pattern in combination with the first region of build material and/or the second region of build material.

Method of printing grayscale and full-color 3D articles

In one aspect, methods of printing a three-dimensional article are described herein. In some embodiments, a method described herein comprises jetting an ink at a temperature T1 onto a substrate at a temperature T2 to form a layer of the ink on the substrate. The method further comprises subsequently curing the layer of the ink. In some embodiments, T1 is greater than T2 and the ink in an uncured state has a liquid-gel transition temperature below T1 and above T2. Further, the layer of the ink is deposited on the substrate at a rate R1 in mg/s/inthat is within 60% of a gelation rate R2 of the ink in inverse minutes in an uncured state at T2. The ink can comprise a curable material and a gellant.

Growing community of inventors

Wilsonville, OR, United States of America

Don Titterington