A method of forming a rotor blade, including forming at least one of a partial upper skin, a partial lower skin, and a partial support network using an additive manufacturing process; and forming a first receptacle in at least a one of the partial upper skin, the partial lower skin, and the partial support network using the additive manufacturing process. The first receptacle is configured to receive of at least one of an electronic component and a mechanical component. In some embodiments, there is a method of manufacturing a rotor blade that includes forming a first locating receptacle in at least one of the upper skin, the lower skin, and the support network using the additive manufacturing process; and positioning at least one of the upper skin, the lower skin, and the support network in a desired position on a fixture based, in part, on the first locating receptacle.

There is provided a method of making a tool blade, in which a backing strip is provided, binding material in powder form is cascaded onto the backing strip, abrasive particles are provided and the binding material powder is heated by laser beam to form a binder layer which binds the abrasive particles to the backing strip. The laser beam is used to form discrete regions of binder layer as teeth. The binding material is typically braze material. A blade made according to the method is also provided.

In various embodiments, wire composed at least partially of arc-melted refractory metal material is utilized to fabricate three-dimensional parts by additive manufacturing.

An additive manufacturing apparatus utilizing combined electron beam selective melting and electron beam cutting. One electron beam emitting, focusing, and scanning device (6) is capable of emitting electron beams (67, 68) in three modes of heating, selective melting, and electron beam cutting. The electron beam in the heating mode is emitted to scan and preheat a powder bed (7). The electron beam (67) in the selective melting mode is emitted to scan and melt powder (71) in a section outline to form a section layer of a component. The electron beam (68) in the electron beam cutting mode is emitted to perform one or more cutting scans on inner and outer outlines (74, 75) of a section of the component to obtain accurate and smooth inner and outer outlines of the section. The heating, melting deposition, and outline cutting processes are repeated to obtain a required three-dimensional physical component.

A powder supply device includes a hopper accommodating powder, a cylindrical roller provided below the hopper and rotatable around a rotational axis, and a wall surface storing the powder in a space between the roller and the wall surface. The powder supply device moves the powder stored between the roller and the wall surface in a rotation direction of the roller and drops the powder by the roller rotating. A plurality of groove portions extending in an axial direction are formed in a peripheral surface of the roller. At least one of the groove portions is formed such that a capacity allowing the powder to be accommodated changes in the axial direction.

Provided are workpiece-assemblies, and systems and methods for aligning a plurality of workpieces with a build plane. A system may include an alignment plate, one or more elevating blocks, and a workpiece-assembly. A workpiece-assembly may include a build plate that has a plurality of workpiece docks, a plurality of workpiece shoes that have a slot configured to receive a portion of one or more workpieces respectively inserted or insertable into the plurality of workpiece docks, a plurality of biasing members respectively situated or situatable between the build plate and the plurality of workpiece shoes so as to exert a biasing force upon the workpiece shoes, and one or more clamping mechanisms coupled or couplable to the build plate and operable to secure the plurality of workpiece shoes within the respective workpiece docks.

The invention relates to a powder for an additive manufacturing method having a d.sub.2-value of 10 m or more, a d.sub.90-value of 200 m or less and a quotient E.sub.Law/d.sub.500.8 KJ(KG*m), wherein E.sub.Law indicates the avalanche energy and d.sub.50 the average particle diameter. The invention further relates to a method for producing a component by means of additive manufacturing using the claimed powder.

The invention relates to a heat-exchanger element for connection to tubes of a heat exchanger, the heat-exchanger element (1, 29, 32) consisting of a plurality of components (13, 14) welded to each other, and said components (13, 14) being interconnected by electron beam welding and being part of a heat exchanger head.

A method for producing articles from iridium metal nanopowder. This invention relates to the sphere of powder metallurgy and may find application in the production of different articles from iridium. Technically, the object of the invention is development of a new technology. To this aim a method is proposed for the production of articles from iridium based on use of chemically pure metal of not less than 99.99 purity, produced by electron-beam remelting, characterized in that the required material is turned to nanopowder of less than 100 nm dispersity from which seamless articles of various configuration are molded by their compacting at room temperature followed by baking, with the resulting isotropic structure featuring 100-300 nm grain size and strength characteristics being improved by 200-300%.

A method for producing a primary material for a cutting tool, for example a primary material for a saw blade or a saw band, in which a band-shaped carrier of a metal carrier material and a wire of high-speed steel are continuously brought together along a lateral edge of the band-shaped carrier and transported into a welding device and the band-shaped carrier is welded to the wire along the lateral edge of the carrier to produce a bimetal band. The band-shaped carrier and the edge wire are welded to one another by at least a first welding device, which is arranged on one side of the band-shaped carrier, and at least a second welding device, which is arranged on the opposite side of the band-shaped carrier.