An electron beam additive manufacturing system includes an electron beam source, an x-ray detection sensor configured to generate a waveform corresponding to an amount of x-rays detected by the x-ray detection sensor, and an electronic control unit comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable memory, the electronic control unit communicatively coupled to the electron beam source and the x-ray detection sensor. The electronic control unit is configured to cause the electron beam source to emit an electron beam such that the electron beam impinges a verification plate, receive the waveform generated by the x-ray detection sensor in response to the x-ray detection sensor capturing x-rays emitted from the impingement of the electron beam with the verification plate, and determine a melt performance of a surface material of the verification plate based on the waveform.

An electron beam (EB) gun assembly for an EB furnace is provided. The EB gun assembly includes an EB gun-frame assembly including a skeleton frame and at least one EB gun mounted to the skeleton frame, and the EB gun-frame assembly is configured to rigidly mount onto a first EB chamber lid and melt material in a first EB chamber and be removed and rigidly mount onto a second EB chamber lid and melt material in a second EB chamber. In some forms, the EB gun assembly includes at least one mounting frame and the at least one EB gun is mounted to the at least one mounting frame and the at least one mounting frame is mounted to the skeleton frame.

A method of charge mitigation in additive layer manufacturing is provided, which uses a charged particle beam (103) to fuse metal powder (122) within a metal powder bed (123) to form a product layer-by-layer, the method comprising using a charged particle beam optical system to form a charged particle beam, to steer the charged particle beam to be incident on a powder bed of metal powder and to scan over the powder bed to fuse powder into a desired layer shape. While steering the charged particle beam, the method comprises using a neutralising particle source (160) to generate neutralising particles of an opposite charge to the charged particles in the vicinity of the charged particle beam such that the neutralising particles are attracted to the charged particles of powder in the powder bed. An additive layer manufacturing apparatus (100) is also provided.

Performance of a cathode of an electron beam melting machine can be monitored, wherein detection means such as a near infrared (NIR) camera is used in combination with the electron beam of the machine to detect changes in performance over time the machine.

An electron beam installation, which is used for processing powdered material, has a powder container, which can accommodate a powder bed made of the powdered material to be processed. Furthermore, it has an electron beam generator, which is configured to direct an electron beam onto laterally differing locations of the powder bed. To reduce the dispersion of the powdered material during the processing using the electron beam, the electron beam installation has a frit device, which, by applying an AC voltage between at least two electrodes, generates an electromagnetic alternating field, which bonds the powdered material of the powder bed, at least in regions over the powder bed.

This invention can maintain the temperature of the shaping plane in a three-dimensional layer-by-layer shaping apparatus. A three-dimensional layer-by-layer shaping apparatus includes a material spreader that spreads the material or materials of a three-dimensional layer-by-layer shaped object onto the shaping plane on which the three-dimensional layer-by-layer shaped object is to be shaped; an electron gun that generates an electron beam; at least one deflector that deflects the electron beam so that it scans the shaping plane one- or two-dimensionally; at least one lens that is positioned between the electron gun and the deflector, and focuses the electron beam; a focus controller that controls the focus of the electron beam based on which region is to be scanned by the electron beam; and a controller that controls the deflecting direction of the deflector and the scanning rate.

An electron beam installation, which is used for processing powdered material, has a powder container, which can accommodate a powder bed made of the powdered material to be processed. Furthermore, it has an electron beam generator, which is configured to direct an electron beam onto laterally differing locations of the powder bed. To reduce the dispersion of the powdered material during the processing using the electron beam, the electron beam installation has a frit device, which, by applying an AC voltage between at least two electrodes, generates an electromagnetic alternating field, which bonds the powdered material of the powder bed, at least in regions over the powder bed.

A method of charge mitigation in additive layer manufacturing is provided, which uses a charged particle beam (103) to fuse metal powder (122) within a metal powder bed (123) to form a product layer-by-layer, the method comprising using a charged particle beam optical system to form a charged particle beam, to steer the charged particle beam to be incident on a powder bed of metal powder and to scan over the powder bed to fuse powder into a desired layer shape. While steering the charged particle beam, the method comprises using a neutralising particle source (160) to generate neutralising particles of an opposite charge to the charged particles in the vicinity of the charged particle beam such that the neutralising particles are attracted to the charged particles of powder in the powder bed. An additive layer manufacturing apparatus (100) is also provided.

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).

To provide a three-dimensional printing device that irradiates approximately the same ranges on the surface of a powder layer simultaneously with a plurality of electron beams having different beam shapes. An electron beam column 200 of the three-dimensional printing device 100 includes a plurality of electron sources 20 including electron sources having anisotropically-shaped beam generating units, and beam shape deforming elements 30 that deform the beam shapes of electron beams output from the electron sources 20 on a surface 63 of a powder layer 62. A deflector 50 included in the electron beam column 200 deflects an electron beam output from each of the plurality of electron sources 20 by a distance larger than the beam space between electron beams before passing through the deflector 50.