General Electric Company

Lang Yuan

William Thomas Carter

Marshall Gordon Jones

Justin John Gambone, Jr

Michael Evans Graham

David Charles Bogdan, Jr

Ning Zhou

Kevin George Harding

Steven Jude Duclos

Jason Harris Karp

Harry Kirk Mathews, Jr

Victor Petrovich Ostroverkhov

Robert John Filkins

Subhrajit Roychowdhury

Matthias Hoebel

Prabhjot Singh

Jinjie Shi

Thomas Charles Adcock

Felix Martin Gerhard Roerig

Thomas Etter

James William Sears

John Madelone

Justin John Gambone

Victor Petrovish Ostroverkhov

Justin John Gambore

David Charles Bogdan

An additive manufacturing system including a housing configured to contain a powder bed of material, and an array of laser emitters having a field of view. The array is configured to melt at least a portion of the powder bed within the field of view as the array translates relative to the powder bed. The system further includes a spatter collection device including a diffuser configured to discharge a stream of gas across the powder bed, and a collector configured to receive the stream of gas and contaminants entrained in the stream of gas. The collector is spaced from the diffuser such that a collection zone is defined therebetween, and the spatter collection device is configured to translate relative to the powder bed such that the collection zone overlaps with the field of view of the array.

Additive manufacturing system and method of forming an object in a powder bed

A method of method of forming or repairing a superalloy article having a columnar or equiaxed or directionally solidified or amorphous or single crystal microstructure includes emitting a plurality of laser beams from selected fibers of a diode laser fiber array corresponding to a pattern of a layer of the article onto a powder bed of the superalloy to form a melt pool; and controlling a temperature gradient and a solidification velocity of the melt pool to form the columnar or single crystal microstructure.

Control of solidification in laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing using a diode laser fiber array

An additive manufacturing system configured to manufacture a component including scan strategies for efficient utilization of one or more laser arrays. The additive manufacturing system includes at least one laser device, each configured as a laser array, and a build platform. Each laser device is configured to generate a plurality of laser beams. The component is disposed on the build platform. The at least one laser device is configured to sweep across the component and the build platform in at least one of a radial direction, a circumferential direction or a modified zig-zag pattern and simultaneously operate the one or more of the plurality of individually operable laser beams corresponding to a pattern of the layer of a build to generate successive layers of a melted powdered material on the component and the build platform corresponding to the pattern of the layer of the build. A method of manufacturing a component with the additive manufacturing system is also disclosed.

Scan strategies for efficient utilization of laser arrays in direct metal laser melting (DMLM)

An additive manufacturing system includes a powder bed and at least one energy source configured to produce at least one energy beam for forming a build layer of a component from the powder bed. The additive manufacturing system further includes a computing device coupled to the at least one energy source. The computing device includes a processor and a memory device. The memory device includes instructions configured to cause the computing device to execute a manufacturing plan for manufacturing the component, receive component thermal data corresponding to at least a portion of the component during manufacturing of the component, and control the at least one energy beam in response to receiving the component thermal data to produce a predetermined microstructure within the portion of the component.

Systems and methods for controlling microstructure of additively manufactured components

An additive manufacturing system includes a laser device, a build plate, and a scanning device. The laser device is configured to generate a laser beam with a variable intensity. The build plate is configured to support a powdered build material. The scanning device is configured to selectively direct the laser beam across the powdered build material to generate a melt pool on the build plate. The scanning device is configured to oscillate a spatial position of the laser beam while the laser device is configured to simultaneously modulate the intensity of the laser beam to thermally control the melt pool.

Systems and methods for dynamic shaping of laser beam profiles for control of micro-structures in additively manufactured metals

A controller for use in an additive manufacturing system including at least one laser device configured to generate at least one melt pool in powdered material including a processing device and a memory device. The controller is configured to generate at least one control signal to control a power output of the at least one laser device throughout at least one scan path across the layer of powdered material, the scan path generated at least partially based on a functional relationship between a plurality of points of a generating path and each point of a plurality of points of the scan path. The controller is further configured to generate a non-uniform energy intensity profile for the scan path, and transmit the control signal to the laser device to emit at least one laser beam to generate at least one melt pool.

Systems and methods for fabricating a component with at least one laser device

A method includes applying thermal and/or strain modeling to the CAD representation of an object. In addition, scan path data is generated based at least in part on a result of the thermal and/or strain modeling. A build file comprising the scan path data is generated. The build file comprises instructions that configure an additive manufacturing tool to generate the object according to the scan path data.

Methods and apparatus for generating additive manufacturing scan paths using thermal and strain modeling

An additive manufacturing system is configured to manufacture a component. The additive manufacturing system includes a laser device, a build platform, a first scanning device, and an air knife. The laser device is configured to generate a laser beam. The component is disposed on the build platform. The air knife is configured to channel an inert gas across the build platform. The first scanning device is configured to selectively direct the laser beam across the build platform. The laser beam is configured to generate successive layers of a melted powdered build material on the component and the build platform. The build platform is configured to rotate the component relative to the air knife.

Systems and methods for additive manufacturing rotating build platforms

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Niskayuna, NY, United States of America

Lang Yuan