A turbocharger shaft includes a connection portion at a connection with a wheel of the turbocharger. The shaft includes a stainless steel cladding at least along one or more grooves of the connection portion to reduce the risk of cold cracking and bending fatigue.

An additive manufacturing apparatus manufactures a shaped object by stacking layers in each of which unit beads that are solidified products of a molten material are laid side by side. The additive manufacturing apparatus includes a material supply unit that supplies a wire as the material to a workpiece, an irradiation unit that emits a laser beam for melting the material supplied, and a controller device that controls the material supply unit and the irradiation unit to form the unit beads. In the formation of unit beads brought into contact with each other to form the layer, the controller device performs control such that a formed unit bead is flattened by irradiation with the beam, and a unit bead is formed in contact with the unit bead that has been flattened.

An irradiation device for additively manufacturing three-dimensional objects may include a beam generation device configured to generate an energy beam, an optical modulator including a micromirror array disposed downstream from the beam generation device, and a focusing lens assembly disposed downstream from the optical modulator. The micromirror array may include a plurality of micromirror elements configured to reflect a corresponding plurality of beam segment of the energy beam along a beam path incident upon the focusing lens assembly. The focusing lens assembly may include one or more lenses configured to focus the plurality of beam segments such that for respective ones of a plurality of modulation groups including a subset of micromirror elements, a corresponding subset of beam segments are focused to at least partially overlap with one another at a combination zone corresponding to the respective modulation group.

A curable resin or adhesive composition includes at least one monomer, a photoinitiator capable of initiating polymerization of the monomer when exposed to light, and at least one energy converting material, preferably a phosphor, capable of producing light when exposed to radiation (typically X-rays). The material is particularly suitable for bonding components at ambient temperature in situations where the bond joint is not accessible to an external light source. An associated method includes: placing a polymerizable adhesive composition, including a photoinitiator and energy converting material, such as a down-converting phosphor, in contact with at least two components to be bonded to form an assembly; and, irradiating the assembly with radiation at a first wavelength, capable of conversion (down-conversion by the phosphor) to a second wavelength capable of activating the photoinitiator, to prepare items such as inkjet cartridges, wafer-to-wafer assemblies, semiconductors, integrated circuits, and the like.

A curable resin or adhesive composition includes at least one monomer, a photoinitiator capable of initiating polymerization of the monomer when exposed to light, and at least one energy converting material, preferably a phosphor, capable of producing light when exposed to radiation (typically X-rays). The material is particularly suitable for bonding components at ambient temperature in situations where the bond joint is not accessible to an external light source. An associated method includes: placing a polymerizable adhesive composition, including a photoinitiator and energy converting material, such as a down-converting phosphor, in contact with at least two components to be bonded to form an assembly; and, irradiating the assembly with radiation at a first wavelength, capable of conversion (down-conversion by the phosphor) to a second wavelength capable of activating the photoinitiator, to prepare items such as inkjet cartridges, wafer-to-wafer assemblies, semiconductors, integrated circuits, and the like.

A process for producing a protective coating on a brake side of a brake disk main element includes using a laser powder build-up welding process. An NbC metal matrix powder or a Cr.sub.3C.sub.2 metal matrix powder is produced by agglomeration and sintering of NbC particles or Cr.sub.3C.sub.2 particles with particles of a metallic matrix composed of a stainless steel. During the laser powder build-up welding process, the NbC metal matrix powder or the Cr.sub.3C.sub.2 metal matrix powder and an aluminum alloy powder is supplied simultaneously to a molten surface region of the brake disk main element which has been melted by a laser.

A build system is provided with: a build apparatus that performs a build process for forming a build object by supplying build materials to an irradiation area of an energy beam from a supply system while irradiating a target object with the energy beam from an irradiation system; and a change apparatus that is configured to change a relative position between the energy beam and the target object, wherein the build system differentiates a condition of the build process that is performed at a first area of the target object and a condition of the build process that is performed at a second area of the target object.

This disclosure describes various methods and apparatus for characterizing an additive manufacturing process. A method for characterizing the additive manufacturing process can include generating scans of an energy source across a build plane; measuring an amount of energy radiated from the build plane during each of the scans using an optical sensing system that monitors two discrete wavelengths associated with a blackbody radiation curve of the layer of powder; determining temperature variations for an area of the build plane traversed by the scans based upon a ratio of sensor readings taken at the two discrete wavelengths; determining that the temperature variations are outside a threshold range of values; and thereafter, adjusting subsequent scans of the energy source across or proximate the area of the build plane.

This disclosure describes various methods and apparatus for characterizing an additive manufacturing process. A method for characterizing the additive manufacturing process can include generating scans of an energy source across a build plane; measuring an amount of energy radiated from the build plane during each of the scans using an optical sensing system that monitors two discrete wavelengths associated with a blackbody radiation curve of the layer of powder; determining temperature variations for an area of the build plane traversed by the scans based upon a ratio of sensor readings taken at the two discrete wavelengths; determining that the temperature variations are outside a threshold range of values; and thereafter, adjusting subsequent scans of the energy source across or proximate the area of the build plane.

A method and system for laser metal powder deposition using beam wobbling. The system may include a fiber laser configured to generate a laser beam and a laser head, the laser head configured to receive the laser beam from the fiber laser and including a collimator configured to collimate the laser beam, a wobbler module having first and second movable mirrors, and a focus lens configured to focus the collimated laser beam through a powder nozzle device such that a focal point location of the focused collimated laser beam is positioned below a workpiece surface. The powder nozzle device delivers metal powder to a region on the workpiece surface that is heated by the focused collimated laser beam.