Additive manufacturing systems, and methods of encoding and decoding data within a build chamber of an additive manufacturing system are disclosed. An additive manufacturing system includes a build chamber having a patterned surface, the patterned surface having indicia therein or thereon. The additive manufacturing system further includes an energy beam (EB) gun configured to emit an energy beam and a sensor configured to detect one or more x-ray emissions that are generated as a result of impingement of the energy beam on the patterned surface. The one or more x-ray emissions include characteristics that correspond to the indicia such that data encoded in the indicia can be obtained from the characteristics of the one or more x-ray emissions.

A method of joining first and second component bodies comprises: cold-spraying a first joining surface of the first component body with a bond material which is harder than the first joining surface; cold-spraying a second joining surface of the second component body with the bond material; and joining the first and second component bodies by way of the first joining surface.

An additive manufacturing device manufactures an additively manufactured article by preheating a powder material by irradiating the powder material with a charged particle beam and then melting the powder material by irradiating the powder material with the charged particle beam. The additive manufacturing device includes a beam emitting unit emitting the charged particle beam and irradiating the powder material with the charged particle beam, and a position detection unit detecting a position of scattering of the powder material when the powder material scatters by being irradiated with the charged particle beam. When the powder material scatters by being irradiated with the charged particle beam, the beam emitting unit emits the charged particle beam such that a thermal dose of the preheating is increased at the position of scattering.

An additive manufacturing device performs manufacturing of an additively manufactured article by supplying a powder material to an irradiation region of an electron beam, laying and leveling the powder material, irradiating the powder material with the electron beam, and melting the powder material. The additive manufacturing device determines whether or not the powder material has scattered during manufacturing of the article. When it is determined that the powder material has scattered, an irradiation region R is heated by a heater before a new powder material is supplied to the irradiation region R. Manufacturing of the article is restarted after the new powder material has been supplied to the heated irradiation region.

A three-dimensional shaping device shapes a three-dimensional article by irradiating a powder material with an electron beam and melting the powder material. The three-dimensional shaping device includes an electron beam emitting unit emitting the electron beam, melting the powder material in order to shape the article, and performing preliminary heating of the powder material by irradiating the powder material with the electron beam before the article is shaped. The electron beam emitting unit moves an irradiation position of the electron beam in a spiral pattern when the powder material is irradiated with the electron beam for preliminary heating.

An additive manufacturing apparatus utilizing combined electron beam selective melting and electron beam cutting. One electron beam emitting, focusing, and scanning device (6) is capable of emitting electron beams (67, 68) in three modes of heating, selective melting, and electron beam cutting. The electron beam in the heating mode is emitted to scan and preheat a powder bed (7). The electron beam (67) in the selective melting mode is emitted to scan and melt powder (71) in a section outline to form a section layer of a component. The electron beam (68) in the electron beam cutting mode is emitted to perform one or more cutting scans on inner and outer outlines (74, 75) of a section of the component to obtain accurate and smooth inner and outer outlines of the section. The heating, melting deposition, and outline cutting processes are repeated to obtain a required three-dimensional physical component.

Methods, apparatus, and systems for fabricating diffractive structures on gemstones for high optical performance are provided. In one aspect, a method includes obtaining a plurality of gemstone characteristics of a gemstone, determining that the gemstone exhibits each of the plurality of gemstone characteristics within a respective predetermined range, identifying a diffractive structure setting associated with a combination of the respective predetermined ranges for the plurality of gemstone characteristics, and fabricating diffractive structures on the gemstone according to the diffractive structure setting.

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.

Various embodiments of the teachings herein include a method for fusing one or more cross sections in a powder layer for building one or more objects layer by layer with electron beam powder bed fusion. The method may include: pre-sintering only the cross sections in the powder layer by scanning the cross sections with a first line energy; and fusing the cross sections by scanning the cross sections with a second line energy. The second line energy exceeds the first line energy by at least a factor of 2.

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).