Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Desktop Metal, Inc.

1366 Technologies Inc.

Other

Evergreen Solar, Inc.

Cubicpv Inc.

Emanuel Michael Sachs

Paul A Hoisington

Jonah Samuel Myerberg

Richard Remo Fontana

George Hudelson

Michael John Cima

James F Bredt

Adam M Lorenz

Ralf Jonczyk

Midnight Zero

James G Serdy

Samuel M Allen

Christopher Benjamin Renner

Ricardo Fulop

Jamison Go

Eerik Torm Hantsoo

Keith Roy Vaillancourt

G D Stephen Hudelson

Edward Russell Moynihan

Holly G Gates

Robert Michael Shydo, Jr

Richard Lee Wallace, Jr

Steven P Michaels

Nicholas Graham Bandiera

Mark Gardner Gibson

Benjamin F Polito

David Brancazio

Michael I Cima

Satbir Khanuja

Alexander K McCalmont

Charles Edward Martin

Tailin Fan

Alain Curodeau

Jeffrey Von Loesecke

Yet-Ming Chiang

Anastasios John Hart

Justin Cumming

Won B Bang

John S Haggerty

Brian Kernan

Glenn A Jordan

Michael Goldblatt

Karl T Ulrich

Ilya L Rushkin

Todd L Siler

Nathan Woodard

Richard L Wallace, Jr

Michael Daniel Santorella

Uwe Bauer

Joseph Gabay

Andrew Fiske Roberts

Brett Schuster

Peter E Kane

Jennifer Martz

Paul A Williams

Guy Danner

Scott Albert Uhland

Christopher Allan Schuh

Matthew David Verminski

Michael Andrew Gibson

Robert J Nick

Herbert H Sawin

Ricardo Chin

Che-Chih Tsao

Peter G Madden

Daniel David Sachs

Alaric Naiman

Tonio Buonassisi

Kevin Michael Li

William T Conner

Helen J Yoo

Hector A Inirio

David C Gossard

Andrew M Gabor

Michael Caradonna

Zhe Zl Liu

Steven Garrant

Sarah Wieghold

Toshana Krishna Natchurivalapil Rappai James

Adam L Lorenz

Guy M Danner

Cassia Lockwood

Joseph Johnson

Damian W Harris

Eric Wong

David R Stoops

George W Celniker

Timothy J Dalton

Marc Filerman

David C Robertson

Vladimir S Tarasov

Daniel J Berkery

Alan Lauder

Gd Stephen Hudelson

Sang-Joon J Lee

Harald Tuerck

Richard Li-chao Yu

Brian D Kernan

Blake W Gleason

Patrick C Saxton

A furnace may include an outer wall defining a chamber, the chamber including an internal cavity configured to receive one or more parts, at least one heater positioned within the chamber, the at least one heater being configured to generate temperatures of at least about 800 degrees Celsius within the internal cavity, and a vacuum pump configured to apply a vacuum to at least a portion of the chamber. The furnace may also include at least one layer of inner insulation and at least one layer of outer insulation disposed outward of the inner insulation with respect to the chamber, the at least one layer of outer insulation being sealed with respect to the at least one layer of inner insulation.

Sealed furnace

Devices, systems, and methods are directed to applying magnetohydrodynamic forces to liquid metal to eject liquid metal along a controlled pattern, such as a controlled three-dimensional pattern as part of additive manufacturing of an object. Electric current delivered to a meniscus of the liquid metal in a quiescent state can be directed to exert a pullback force on the liquid metal. The pullback force can be sufficient to draw the liquid metal, in the quiescent state, in a direction toward the nozzle to reduce the likelihood of unintended wetting of surfaces of the nozzle between uses of the nozzle.

Controlling meniscus position for magnetohydrodynamic metal manufacturing

Techniques for depowdering in additive fabrication are provided. According to some aspects, techniques are provided that separate powder from parts through vibration of the powder, the parts, and/or structures mechanically connected to the powder and/or parts. For instance, the application of vibration may dislodge, aerate and/or otherwise increase the flowability of regions of the powder, thereby making it easier to remove the powder with a suitable means. Techniques for depowdering through vibration may be automated, thereby mitigating challenges associated with manual depowdering operations.

Techniques for depowdering additively fabricated parts through vibratory motion and related systems and methods

Techniques for depowdering additively fabricated parts are described in which powder is separated from parts by creating a large pressure differential between the powder and parts and a nearby location. The pressure differential may cause gas to quickly flow into and/or around the powder and parts, thereby producing a force against the powder and parts. Since the powder is generally much lighter than the parts, this force may be much more effective at moving the powder than moving the parts. As a result, the powder and parts may be separated from one another. The pressure differential may be created in various ways, such as by holding the parts and part in a chamber that is pressurized with air and/or other gas(es). Rapid depressurization of the chamber may produce the aforementioned pressure differential, leading to powder movement away from the parts.

Techniques for depowdering additively fabricated parts via rapid pressure change and related systems and methods

The devices, systems, and methods of the present disclosure are directed to spreader positioning techniques for consistent and rapid layer-by-layer fabrication of three-dimensional objects formed through binder jetting. For example, an additive manufacturing system may include a roller and a print carriage. In a layer-by-layer fabrication process, the roller may move in advance of the print carriage over a dimension of a volume to spread a respective layer of powder onto which the print carriage delivers a binder. Controlling the position of the roller may facilitate achieving consistent layer characteristics which, in turn, may facilitate fabrication of high quality parts.

Profiled rails for in multi-directional binder jetting

Methods of additive manufacturing, binder compositions for additive manufacturing, and articles produced by and/or associated with methods of additive manufacturing are generally described.

Binder compositions for additive manufacturing comprising low molecular weight polymers including acrylic acid repeat units

A system and corresponding method for additive manufacturing of a three-dimensional (3D) object to improve packing density of a powder bed used in the manufacturing process. The system and corresponding method enable higher density packing of the powder. Such higher density packing leads to better mechanical interlocking of particles, leading to lower sintering temperatures and reduced deformation of the 3D object during sintering. An embodiment of the system comprises means for adjusting a volume of a powder metered onto a top surface of the powder bed to produce an adjusted metered volume and means for spreading the adjusted metered volume to produce a smooth volume for forming a smooth layer of the powder with controlled packing density across the top surface of the powder bed. The controlled packing density enables uniform shrinkage, without warping, of the 3D object during sintering to produce higher quality 3D printed objects.

System and method for controlling powder bed density for 3D printing

A controlled environment system for the additive manufacture of metal objects using magnetohydrodynamic jetting. A sealing plate is placed against an Péclet gap seal of a volume enclosure. A flow of inert gas is used to maintain a high-purity volume in the interior of the volume enclosure. A print head accesses the interior and delivers build material through a hole in the sealing plate. A build plate is movable relative to the sealing plate within the interior of the volume enclosure on which objects can be fabricated.

Controlled environment for additive manufacturing

Binder composition for additive manufacturing

A metering apparatus and corresponding method meter a powder material in a three-dimensional (3D) printing system. The metering apparatus comprises a hopper with walls configured to contain a powder material, a metering roller, and a tool. The metering roller is located beneath an opening of the hopper. The metering roller and a given wall of the walls of the hopper are spaced apart by a gap therebetween at the opening; the gap in combination with rotation of the metering roller causes the powder material to flow from under the given wall of the hopper at a substantially predictable rate. The tool is positioned at the given wall where the flow emerges and is configured to force the powder material off of the metering roller to supply the 3D printing system with the powder material for printing a 3D object.

Metering build material in three-dimensional (3D) printing using a tool

Techniques for depowdering additively fabricated parts are described. The techniques utilize various mechanisms to separate powder from parts. For instance, techniques for depowdering described herein may include fabrication of auxiliary structures in addition to fabrication of parts. Certain auxiliary structures may aid with depowdering operations, and may be fabricated along with parts during an additive fabrication process. The auxiliary structures may be shaped and/or have positional and/or geometrical relationships to the parts during fabrication. For instance, an auxiliary structure may include a cage structure fabricated around one or more parts.

Techniques for depowdering additively fabricated parts and related systems and methods

Devices, systems, and methods are directed to the use of vapor phase change in binder jetting processes for forming three-dimensional objects. In general, a vapor of a first fluid may be directed to a layer of a powder spread across a build volume. The vapor may condense to reduce mobility of the particles of the powder of the layer. For example, the condensing vapor may reduce the likelihood of particle ejection from the layer and, thus, may reduce the likelihood of clogging or otherwise degrading a printhead used to jet a second fluid (e.g., a binder) to the layer. Further, or instead, the condensing vapor may increase the density of the powder in the layer which, when repeated over a plurality of layers forming a three-dimensional object, may reduce the likelihood of slumping of the part during sintering.

Managing powder mobility in binder jetting for additive manufacturing

A method is provided for printing a three-dimensional object. The method comprises, depositing a layer of metal powder onto a powder bed of a three-dimensional printer. A liquid is heated to generate a vapor. The liquid is removed from the vapor to dry the vapor by heating the vapor above a condensation temperature of the liquid. The dry vapor is deposited onto the powder bed of the three-dimensional printer.

Methods and systems for condensing a vapor on a powder bed

The devices, systems, and methods of the present disclosure are directed to powder spreading and binder distribution techniques for consistent and rapid layer-by-layer fabrication of three-dimensional objects formed through binder jetting. For example, a powder may be spread to form a layer along a volume defined by a powder box, a binder may be deposited along the layer to form a layer of a three-dimensional object, and the direction of spreading the layer and depositing the binder may be in a first direction and in a second direction, different from the first direction, thus facilitating rapid formation of the three-dimensional object with each passage of the print carriage over the volume. Powder delivery, powder spreading, thermal energy delivery, and combinations thereof, may facilitate consistently achieving quality standards as the rate of fabrication of the three-dimensional object is increased.

Multi-directional binder jetting additive manufacturing

Growing community of inventors

Newton, MA, United States of America

Emanuel Michael Sachs