A method for manufacturing structural steel components with local reinforcement is provided. The method comprises selecting at least a zone of the component to be reinforced, providing a steel blank and deforming the blank in a press tool to form a product, wherein the blank and/or the product comprises a groove in the zone to be reinforced, the groove comprising an inner surface and an outer surface. The method further comprises depositing a reinforcement material on the inner surface of groove and locally heating the reinforcement material and the groove of the steel blank or product, to mix the melted reinforcement material with the melted portion of the steel blank or product.

A capsule 2 for HIPing comprises a rigid, self-supporting additive manufactured (AM) component 3 which is welded to inner and outer cylindrical liners 4, 6 through which cooling channel tubes 8, 10 extend. A solid end plate 11 is welded to ends of the liners 4, 6 and tubes 8, 10 extend through the end plate 11 and open to the outside. A fill tube 12 communicates with an annular void 14 defined between liners 4, 6 which is filled with powder 16. In use, the capsule 2 is subjected to Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP). Thereafter, the inner and outer liners 4, 6 are removed to define a valve seat assembly comprising the AM component 3, tubes 8, 10, HIPed powder 16 and end plate 11.

A method of transferring operational parameter sets between different domains of additive manufacturing machines includes creating a first machine domain parameter set in a first machine domain, accessing a model of a second additive manufacturing in a second machine domain, creating a second machine domain parameter set by applying transfer learning techniques including learning differences between the first machine domain and the second machine domain, adjusting the first machine domain parameter set using the differences before incorporation into the second machine domain to obtain the second machine domain parameter set, the second machine domain parameter set representing operational settings for the second additive manufacturing machine, the second additive manufacturing machine producing a product sample, determining if the product sample is within quality assurance metrics, and if the product sample is not within the quality assurance metrics, adjusting the second machine domain parameter set.

A 3D printed diamond/metal matrix composite material and a preparation method and application thereof are provided. The composite material includes core-shell doped diamond, a metal matrix, and an additive, where the core-shell doped diamond includes a core, a transition layer, a shell, a coating, a porous layer, and a modification layer. The preparation method includes: uniformly mixing the diamond, the metal matrix, and the additive and performing 3D printing according to a 3D CAD slice model to obtain the composite material designed by the model. The metal matrix and the diamond surface of the composite material are mainly metallurgically bound, which can improve the binding strength between the diamond and the metal matrix, thereby improving the use properties of the composite material and a diamond tool. The core-shell doped diamond has good ablation resistance, and can effectively avoid and reduce thermal damage to diamond in a 3D printing forming process.

A 3D printed diamond/metal matrix composite material and a preparation method and application thereof are provided. The composite material includes core-shell doped diamond, a metal matrix, and an additive, where the core-shell doped diamond includes a core, a transition layer, a shell, a coating, a porous layer, and a modification layer. The preparation method includes: uniformly mixing the diamond, the metal matrix, and the additive and performing 3D printing according to a 3D CAD slice model to obtain the composite material designed by the model. The metal matrix and the diamond surface of the composite material are mainly metallurgically bound, which can improve the binding strength between the diamond and the metal matrix, thereby improving the use properties of the composite material and a diamond tool. The core-shell doped diamond has good ablation resistance, and can effectively avoid and reduce thermal damage to diamond in a 3D printing forming process.

A processing machine (10) for building an object (11) from a material (12) includes a build platform (16), a platform mover assembly (20), a material supply (22), an irradiation device (26), and an analyzer system (30). The platform mover assembly (20) moves the build platform (16) about a platform movement axis (48X) and along the platform movement axis (48X). The material supply (22) supplies material (12) to build the object (11) on the build platform (16). The irradiation device (26) irradiates at least a portion of the material (12) with an energy beam (26A) to form the object (11) from the material (12) on the build platform (16). The analyzer system (30) is configured to monitor the energy beam (26A). The analyzer system (30) includes an alignment component (36) that rotates concurrently with the build platform (16) about the platform movement axis (48X), but that is inhibited from moving concurrently with the build platform (16) along the platform movement axis (48X).

An additive manufacturing system and method is provided for fabricating 3D objects (16) from successive layers (14) of material. The additive manufacturing system (10) has an energy projection assembly (20) for inputting energy (22) into a specified area within the layer (18) to consolidate the material; a plurality of image sensors (30, 32, 34), each of the image sensors having a corresponding field of view (35, 40, 42) covering at least part of the layer (18) of material, such that each of the fields of view at least partially overlap with the field of view of at least one other of the image sensors; and an image processor (56) to capture image data from each of the image sensors (30, 32, 34). The image processor (56) controls exposure times for each of the image sensors (30, 32, 34) and combines the image data from the image sensors to provide a single, spatially resolved image of the energy being input throughout the specified area for each layer (14) of material respectively for comparison against threshold data values to locate potential consolidation defects in the specified area.

A process for additive manufacturing of a metal alloy material is provided that includes: a) providing a feedstock powder comprising base powder particles with nanoparticles attached to surfaces of the base powder particles; b) providing an additive manufacturing system with a laser power source relatively movable at a scan speed; c) wherein the additive manufacturing system has a process window for the feedstock powder; and d) exposing the feedstock powder to a predetermined power input from the laser power source at a predetermined scan speed to produce the metal alloy material. The concentration by volume of nanoparticles within the feedstock powder is such that independent first and second microstructures may be produced within the metal alloy material.

A process for additive manufacturing of a metal alloy material is provided that includes: a) providing a feedstock powder comprising base powder particles with nanoparticles attached to surfaces of the base powder particles; b) providing an additive manufacturing system with a laser power source relatively movable at a scan speed; c) wherein the additive manufacturing system has a process window for the feedstock powder; and d) exposing the feedstock powder to a predetermined power input from the laser power source at a predetermined scan speed to produce the metal alloy material. The concentration by volume of nanoparticles within the feedstock powder is such that independent first and second microstructures may be produced within the metal alloy material.

The invention relates to a device and method for preparing a structure or object using an additive manufacturing process referred to as sequential cold spray laser sintering. The method includes depositing by cold spraying a plurality of sequential layers of material onto a substrate/build plate or particles of materials onto a compacted powder bed of material and employing an energy source to sinter or melt each of the plurality of sequential layers or powders to produce sequential sintered layers, wherein the number of additional layers is determined based on those needed to produce the final structure.