A metal ejecting apparatus is disclosed. The metal ejecting apparatus includes a nozzle orifice in connection with the inner cavity and configured to eject one or more droplets of a liquid metal may include the metal printing material, and a first sensor pair in contact with an internal surface of a lower portion of the inner cavity. Each sensor pair is electrically connected to a printing material feed system where the printing material feed system is configured to receive an electrical signal indicative of an electrical connection from each sensor pair when the metal printing material bridges the electrical connection between each sensor in each sensor pair. A method of controlling level in a metal jetting apparatus is also disclosed.

A three-dimensional (3D) metal object manufacturing apparatus is configured to eject melted metal drops from an ejector head at different velocities to form different portions of metal object layers with different measurable values of a same physical property. The different velocities are achieved by operating the ejector head with two different electrical voltages. The greater voltage that achieves the higher velocity is about 25% greater than the voltage used to achieve the lesser velocity. By operating the ejector head with the two different voltages different portions of the object can be formed with different physical property characteristics.

An embodiment of the present disclosure is directed to a method of additive manufacturing. The method comprises: i) forming a first layer, the first layer comprising at least one material chosen from an article material, a support structure material and a fracturable material; ii) forming an additional layer on the first layer, the additional layer comprising at least one material chosen from the article material, the support structure material and the fracturable material; and iii) repeating ii) one or more times to form a three-dimensional build comprising an article and at least one support structure attached to the article at an interface, the interface comprising the fracturable material formed during one or more of i), ii) or iii), the fracturable material being formed by exposing a print material with a gas reactant. A three-dimensional build is also disclosed.

A three-dimensional (3D) metal object manufacturing apparatus has a thermally insulative layer between a platform on which an ejection head ejects drops of melted metal and a X-Y translation mechanism on which the platform is moved within an X-Y plane opposite the ejection head. The apparatus also includes a housing having an internal volume in which the platform and X-Y translation mechanism are located. In one embodiment, the thermally insulative layer is a plurality of spheres made of a thermally insulative material such as a ceramic made of zirconium dioxide or zirconium oxide. The thermally insulative layer protects the X-Y mechanism while the housing helps keep the surface temperature of the object being formed on the platform in an optimal range for bonding of the ejected melted metal drops to the object's surface.

An alloy for structural direct-writing additive manufacturing comprising a base element selected from the group consisting of aluminum (Al), nickel (Ni) and a combination thereof, and a rare earth element selected from the group consisting of cerium (Ce), lanthanide (La) and a combination thereof, and a eutectic intermetallic present in said alloy in an amount ranging from about 0.5 wt. % to 7.5 wt. %. The invention is also directed to a method of structural direct-write additive manufacturing using the above-described alloy, as well as 3D objects produced by the method. The invention is also directed to methods of producing the above-described alloy.

Additive manufacturing devices and methods for the same are provided. The additive manufacturing device may include a stage configured to support a substrate, a printhead disposed above the stage, and a targeted heating system disposed proximal the printhead. The printhead may be configured to heat a build material to a molten build material and deposit the molten build material on the substrate in the form of droplets to fabricate the article. The targeted heating system may be configured to control a temperature or temperature gradient of the droplets deposited on the substrate, an area proximal the substrate, or combinations thereof.

A method includes ejecting a plurality of drops of a build material from a nozzle of a 3D printer. The build material cools and solidifies after being ejected to form a 3D object. The method also includes controlling an oxidation of the drops, the 3D object or both to create different oxidation levels in first and second portions of the 3D object.

A microdroplet-based three-dimensional (3D) laser printing system, which includes a laser beam subsystem, a transparent donor substrate, voxel arrays, and the receiver substrate. By irradiating the voxel array with a pulsed laser beam deriving from the laser beam subsystem through the transparent donor substrate, the voxel array is melted and driven away from the transparent donor substrate to generate the ejecting microdroplet array and then deposited onto the receiver substrate. The 3D microstructure is printed in parallel by sequentially irradiating the voxel array and controlling the depositing locations of microdroplet arrays onto the receiver substrate. The system can avoid the satellite microdroplets generating, improve the printing efficiency and resolution, and obtain a wide process window.

A method includes moving a first part along a movement path. The method also includes introducing drops of a liquid metal onto the first part using a three-dimensional (3D) printer. The drops of the liquid metal solidify to form a second part that is joined to the first part. The method also includes mechanically joining the second part to a third part.

A metal fused, deposition printer, that uses the thixotropic (or other) properties of a metal (or alloy) to control the viscosity of the material being deposited. In the invention presented in this patent, the viscosity of the metal is controlled by shearing it before, during, or after the deposition process. Since thixotropic (or other) properties allow for the control of the viscosity separately from the temperature, the taught invention allows for precise control of the temperature differential between the layer being deposited, and the substrate layer.