A method for repairing a defect in a vehicle exterior body surface is provided that includes a scan data set being generated that corresponds to the dimensional surface boundaries of the defect. A manufacturing data set is created for an object at least in part complementary to the defect from the scan data. The object is formed from the manufacturing data set with a layered manufacturing device. The object is joined to the defect to repair the vehicle exterior body surface. An object is also provided formed of a thermoplastic or a UV cured polymer with a shape that is at least at least in part complementary to a defect vehicle exterior body surface. The object having a void therein with the shape configured to receive an insert or a fastener therein.

The invention relates to a computer-assisted method for generating a control data set for an additive layer manufacturing device. In a first step, a layer data set is accessed, wherein points are marked in the data model which correspond to an object cross-section and at which the bid-up material should be solidified. In a second step, the layer data set is modified in such a way that for at least a portion of the object cross-section, the number of beams required for solidifying the build-up material inside said portion is determined preferably automatically, according to quality specifications of the portion and/or a manufacturing time of the object. In a third step, the modified layer data set is provided as a control data set for the additive layer manufacturing device.

A method and device for generating control data for an additive manufacturing device are described, wherein build-up material is built up and selectively solidified. Irradiating the build-up material on a build field with at least one energy beam occurs An impingement surface of the energy beam is moved on the build field in order to melt the build-up material in a target area in and around the impingement surface. For generating the control data, optimization criteria and/or secondary and/or boundary conditions relating to a local target temperature distribution in the target area of the build-up material are defined so that melting of the build-up material is effected as heat conduction welding. Based on this, an optimized intensity profile of the energy beam is determined, which is substantially non-rotationally symmetric at the impingement surface on the build field.

A method for 3D printing a patient-specific bone implant having variable density, in various aspects, comprises: (1) providing a thermoplastic polymer composition comprising: (A) between about 20% and about 50% bioactive agent by weight; (B) between about 0.5% and about 10% chemical foaming agent by weight; and (C) balance structural polymer by weight; (2) receiving, by computing hardware, a scan of a bone, the scan comprising at least a 3D image of the bone and radiodensity data for the bone; and (3) causing, by the computing hardware, a 3D printer to form the patient-specific bone implant from the 3D image using the thermoplastic polymer by modifying a 3D printing temperature of the 3D printer during printing of the patient-specific bone implant such that each portion of the patient-specific bone implant is produced at a temperature that corresponds to a desired density defined by the radiodensity data for the bone.

The present disclosure relates to calibrating scanner devices for positioning laser beams in a processing field, and includes, e.g.: arranging a retroreflector in the processing field of the scanner device, the processing field being formed in a processing chamber for irradiating powder layers; detecting laser radiation reflected back into the scanner device when the laser beam passes over the retroreflector; determining an actual position of the laser beam in the processing field using the detected laser radiation; and calibrating the scanner device by correcting a laser beam target position specified for the scanner device in the processing field using the determined actual position of the laser beam in the processing field.

This disclosure provides systems, methods, and tooling for additive manufacturing on a build surface of a pre-existing component. An additive manufacturing tool successively positions layers of powdered materials and selectively fuses the layers of powdered materials to create an additive component on the build surface of the pre-existing component. The pre-existing component is secured in a build plate by a thermal expansion fit during the additive manufacturing process.

A computer-implemented method of generating scan instructions for forming a product using additive layer manufacture as a series of layers is provided. The method comprises determining a beam acceleration voltage to be used when forming the product; for each hatch area of layers of the product, determining a respective beam current to be used when forming the hatch area and providing a respective beam current value to the hatch area description in the scan pattern instruction file; and for each line of each hatch area, determining a respective beam spot size to be used when scanning the beam along the line and providing a respective beam spot size value to the line description in the scan pattern instruction file, and determining a respective series of beam step sizes and beam step dwell times to be used when scanning the beam along the line, and providing a respective series of beam position values and beam step dwell times to the line description in the scan pattern instruction file thereby defining how the beam is to be scanned along the line. Also provided are a file of scan instructions, an additive layer manufacture apparatus, and a method of forming a product using the additive layer manufacturing apparatus.

The invention relates to a method for regulating the operation of an electromechanical apparatus (1), for example an EBM apparatus, in order to obtain certified processed products, wherein it is provided an initial calibration step that is intended to check the proper functioning of all the component parts of the apparatus (1) structured to ensure the complete functionality and a subsequent quality control step carried out on the obtained products by the carried out working process. The method entails the following steps: defining a plurality of measurement parameters relating to the component parts of the apparatus; measuring at least some of said parameters by means of sensors and/or measurement indicators related to said parameters during at least one processing phase performed by the apparatus; performing a quality control step on the obtained products after the working process obtaining data on any deviation from the expected quality; comparing the detected measurements of said parameters and data on any deviation from the expected quality with corresponding values of reference parameters available for that specific apparatus and for those products; detecting any deviations in one or more of said parameters or said data with respect to the values of the reference parameters; computing, on the basis of such differences, a total correction and regulation value; applying said total correction and regulation value preferably to only one of said parameters prior to the subsequent process, for example to the generation energy of the electrons beam (3). Basically, the method of the present invention allows obtaining semi-finished products free from structural defects by means of a primary check of the correct functioning of the various component parts of the apparatus (calibration procedure), a secondary check of the operational effectiveness of the process itself (operational qualification procedure) and a further final check of the process stability and repeatability within a process window (performance qualification).

A method for providing CAM manufacturing instructions for the powder-bed-based additive manufacturing of a component wherein a geometry of the component, with a solid material region, a transition region, and a porous component region, is defined on the basis of CAD data. Irradiation parameters for the manufacturing of the component, including an irradiation power, a scanning speed, a scanning pitch, and a layer thickness, are varied within the transition region in such a way as to form a porosity gradient of the structure of the component between the solid material region of the component and the porous component region.

A processing system includes: a processing apparatus configured to perform an additive processing on a plurality of objects; and a control apparatus configured to control the processing apparatus, the control apparatus generates, based on a result of a first measurement operation for measuring a shape of a first object of the plurality of objects, first processing control information for controlling the processing apparatus to perform the additive processing on the first object, the processing apparatus performs, based on the first processing control information, the additive processing on the first object and the additive processing on a second object of the plurality of objects that is different from the first object.