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.

An additive manufacturing assembly includes a substrate, a nozzle for depositing additive material onto the substrate, and at least one cooling nozzle for supplying a cooling fluid to at least a portion of the substrate. The at least one cooling nozzle is movable relative to the substrate. A controller is operably coupled to the cooling nozzle. The controller is programmed to control operation of the at least one cooling nozzle to achieve a desired convection heat transfer coefficient of the additive material.

A method of additive manufacturing comprises determining a first resonant frequency of an unflawed reference workpiece at a first partial stage of completion, fabricating a production workpiece to the first partial stage of completion via additive manufacture, sensing a second resonant frequency of the production workpiece in-situ at the first partial stage of completion, during the fabrication, analyzing the workpiece for flaws based on comparison of the first and second resonant frequencies, and providing an output indicative of production workpiece condition, based on the analysis.

An additive manufacturing system comprises an additive manufacturing tool, a sensor, and a controller. The additive manufacturing tool is disposed to construct a workpiece via iterative layer deposition. The sensor is disposed to determine a resonant frequency of the workpiece in-situ at the additive manufacturing tool, during fabrication. The controller is configured to terminate manufacture of the workpiece if the resonant frequency differs substantially from a reference frequency.

Method for calibrating an apparatus (1) for additively manufacturing three-dimensional objects by means of successive layerwise selective irradiation and consolidation of layers of a build material which can be consolidated by means of an energy beam (3), comprising the steps: providing at least one calibration source (8, 9, 10) in a calibration plane (16) imaging the calibration source (8, 9, 10) to an actual position (18) in a determination plane (15) comprising at least two determination regions (19-27), preferably with given coordinates, in particular arranged in a grid-like pattern moving the image (28) of the calibration source (8, 9, 10) from the actual position (18) in at least one direction (29, 32, 34, 35) across the determination plane (15) until the image (28) passes from the actual determination region (19-27) into another determination region (19-27) determining a distance information indicating a defined distance (30, 33, 36, 37) the image (28) is moved determining the actual position (18) of the image (28) based on the determined distance information.

An additive manufacturing system including a two-dimensional energy patterning system for imaging a powder bed is disclosed. Improved structure formation, part creation and manipulation, use of multiple additive manufacturing systems, and high throughput manufacturing methods suitable for automated or semi-automated factories are also disclosed.

This invention effectively suppresses the generation of scattered electrons such as secondary electrons and backscattered electrons. A three-dimensional laminating and shaping apparatus includes a linear funnel that recoats a material of a three-dimensional laminated and shaped object onto a shaping surface on which the three-dimensional laminated and shaped object is to be shaped. The three-dimensional laminating and shaping apparatus also includes an electron gun that generates an electron beam. The three-dimensional laminating and shaping apparatus further includes an anti-deposition cover made of a metal and formed between the shaping surface and the electron gun. In addition, the three-dimensional laminating and shaping apparatus includes a DC power supply that applies a positive voltage to the anti-deposition cover.

A method and an apparatus for collecting powder samples in real-time in powder bed fusion additive manufacturing may involves an ingester system for in-process collection and characterizations of powder samples. The collection may be performed periodically and uses the results of characterizations for adjustments in the powder bed fusion process. The ingester system of the present disclosure is capable of packaging powder samples collected in real-time into storage containers serving a multitude purposes of audit, process adjustments or actions.

An additive manufacturing system includes an ultrasonic inspection system integrated in such a way as to minimize time needed for an inspection process. The inspection system may have an ultrasonic phased array integrated into a build table for detecting defects in each successive slice of a workpiece and such that each slice may be re-melted if and when defects are detected.

An unpacking device for use in an apparatus for producing a three-dimensional work piece by irradiating layers of a raw material powder with electromagnetic or particle radiation, the unpacking device comprises a holding device which is configured to hold a building chamber arrangement. The building chamber arrangement comprises a building chamber accommodating a carrier, wherein the carrier is configured to receive a three-dimensional work piece produced from a raw material powder by an additive layering process. An engagement unit of the unpacking device is configured to engage with the carrier of the building chamber arrangement. A moving mechanism is configured to cause a relative movement between the building chamber and the engagement unit with the carrier engaged therewith so as to allow a separation of the carrier with a three-dimensional work piece received thereon from the building chamber. Finally, the unpacking device comprises a raw material powder removal mechanism which is configured to cause at least one of a vibration and a rotation of the engagement unit with the carrier engaged therewith so as to remove residual raw material powder from the three-dimensional work piece received on the carrier.

A High Energy Beam Processing (HEBP) system provides feedback signal monitoring and feedback control for the improvement of process repeatability and three-dimensional (3D) printed part quality. Electrons deflected from a substrate in the processing area impinge on a surface of a sensor. The electrons result from the deflection of an electron beam from the substrate. Either one or both of an initial profile of an electron beam and an initial location of the electron beam relative to the substrate are determined based on a feedback electron signal corresponding to the impingement of the electrons on the surface of the sensor. With an appropriate profile and location of the electron beam, the build structure is fabricated on the substrate.