An additive manufacturing system enables continual production of three-dimensional objects without operator intervention. The system is configured to form an object on a planar member, rotate the planar member 180 to enable gravity to move the object from the planar member to an object transport, which carries the object to a receptacle for storage and later processing. The opposite side of the planar member is then available for manufacture of another object and the planar member is again rotated following manufacture of the object so it can be removed and carried to the receptacle. The alternating formation of objects on opposite sides of the planar member continues until a predetermined number of objects has been made. The planar member can include one or more heaters to heat the surface on which an object is formed to facilitate release of the object once the planar member has been rotated.

A system of solid free form fabrication (SFF) is disclosed. The system comprises: receiving SFF data collectively pertaining to a three-dimensional shape of the object and comprising a plurality of slice data each defining a layer of the object. The system also comprises, for each of at least a few of the layers, dispensing a building material on a receiving medium, straightening the building material, and selectively ablating the building material according to respective slice data.

Methods and apparatus to identify additively manufactured parts are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a body, formed of layers layered substantially parallel to a base layer, composed of a first material having a first density, a first indicium embedded internally in the body as a void, and a second indicium on an external surface of the body, the second indicium aligning with the first indicium.

A system for additive metal manufacturing, including a deposition mechanism, a translation mechanism mounting the deposition mechanism to the working volume, and a stage. A method for additive metal manufacturing including: selectively depositing a material carrier within the working volume; removing an additive from the material carrier; and treating the resultant material.

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.

Methods and apparatus to identify additively manufactured parts are disclosed. An example method of manufacturing includes layering a first set of layers of a first material via an additive manufacturing technique, the first material having a first density and layering a second set of layers of the first material via the additive manufacturing technique, the second set of layers to form a void embedded internally in the part, the void forming an indicium.

A system for additive metal manufacturing, including a deposition mechanism, a translation mechanism mounting the deposition mechanism to the working volume, and a stage. A method for additive metal manufacturing including: selectively depositing a material carrier within the working volume; removing an additive from the material carrier; and treating the resultant material.

A method and a system of three-dimensional (3D) printing are provided. The method of 3D printing is adapted to a 3D printing apparatus and includes following steps: slicing a 3D object model into a plurality of sub-slicing layers according to a printing plane; merging a default number of adjacent sub-slicing layers into a plurality of grey-scale slicing layers; and, printing a 3D object according to the grey-scale slicing layers. The thickness of each sub-slicing layer is thinner than the thickness of a default layer used whenever the 3D printing apparatus performs a single printing process. The thickness of each of the grey-scale slicing layers is equal to the thickness of the default layer used whenever the 3D printing apparatus performs the single printing process.

A method for automatic creation of cutting paths 5 in the interior space 2 of a three-dimensional shaped product 1 by the following steps, in a CAD/CAM system in which programs are designed for lamination, sintering and cutting that are necessary for creating a three-dimensional shaped product 1: defining an imaginary horizontal plane 3, creating cutting paths 5 in the interior wall section from the lower end successively toward the upper side, creating cutting paths 5 in the interior wall section toward the upper side to the upper end, and joining the cutting paths 5 of step 2 and the cutting paths 5 of step 3.

A system of solid free form fabrication (SFF) is disclosed. The system comprises: receiving SFF data collectively pertaining to a three-dimensional shape of the object and comprising a plurality of slice data each defining a layer of the object. The system also comprises, for each of at least a few of the layers, dispensing a building material on a receiving medium, straightening the building material, and selectively ablating the building material according to respective slice data.