A method of manufacturing a three-dimensionally shaped object includes a first powder-layer forming process in which a first portion of at least one thickness determining member forms a powder layer by moving in contact with powder, a solidifying process in which a solidified portion is formed in the powder layer formed in the first powder-layer forming process, a second powder-layer forming process, performed after the solidifying process, in which a second portion of the at least one thickness determining member forms a powder layer by moving in contact with the powder, and a renewal process performed between the first powder-layer forming process and the second powder-layer forming process. In the renewal process, the portion having been in contact with the powder is renewed such that the second portion is different from the first portion.

A lamination molding apparatus includes: a material layer forming device that forms a material layer in a molding region; an irradiator that sinters or melts the material layer to form a solidified layer; and a cooling device that cools, to a cooling temperature, at least a part including an upper surface of a solidified body. The material layer forming device includes: a base having the molding region, a recoater head disposed on the base, a recoater head driving device that reciprocates the recoater head in a horizontal direction, and a blade that is arranged on the recoater head and that levels material powder to form the material layer. The cooling device includes: a cooling body that is controlled to the cooling temperature and comes into contact with the upper surface of the solidified body, and a mounting member that mounts the cooling body to the recoater head.

Selective laser solidification apparatus is described that includes a powder bed onto which a powder layer can be deposited and a gas flow unit for passing a flow of gas over the powder bed along a predefined gas flow direction. A laser scanning unit is provided for scanning a laser beam over the powder layer to selectively solidify at least part of the powder layer to form a required pattern. The required pattern is formed from a plurality of stripes or stripe segments that are formed by advancing the laser beam along the stripe or stripe segment in a stripe formation direction. The stripe formation direction is arranged so that it always at least partially opposes the predefined gas flow direction. A corresponding method is also described.

Laser additive manufacturing and a method for preparing thin-walled preforms by laser metal deposition and follow-up rolling. This can solve the problems that when the existing laser metal deposition technology prepares the thin-walled preforms, the limit width size of a molten pool at high power affects the forming wall thickness of the preforms so that it is difficult to prepare preforms with wall thickness less than 2 mm, and the problems of poor surface quality and low accuracy of preforms due to convex and concave peaks caused by the interlayer overlapping, but also can solve the problems that a laser beam with a preset trajectory cannot act on the end surfaces of the preforms due to preform deformation caused by residual stress in a printing process so that the preforms cannot be continuously formed.

A three-dimensional shaped article production method is a three-dimensional shaped article production method for producing a three-dimensional shaped article by stacking layers and includes a first metal powder supply step of supplying a first metal powder having a first average particle diameter to a shaping table, a layer formation step of forming the layer by compressing the first metal powder supplied to the shaping table, a first liquid supply step of supplying a first liquid containing a second metal powder having a second average particle diameter and a binder to a portion of a constituent region of the three-dimensional shaped article, a second liquid supply step of supplying a second liquid containing at least either the second meal powder at a lower concentration than the first liquid or a third metal powder having a larger average particle diameter than the second average particle diameter and containing a binder to at least a portion of a surface layer region, and a sintering step of sintering a metal in the constituent region by heating a stacked body.

A powder spreading apparatus includes a hopper having a first end, a second end opposite from the first end, a front wall, a rear wall opposite from the front wall, and a floor. The front wall, the rear wall, the first end, the second end, and the floor define an interior. An impeller is disposed within the interior of the hopper. The impeller includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced flutes and is configured to rotate about an impeller axis that extends from the first end of the hopper to the second end of the hopper to deposit powder onto a print area. A spreader rod is coupled to the hopper and extends along a spreader rod axis parallel to the impeller axis. The spreader rod is configured to rotate about the spreader rod axis to smooth the powder as it is deposited onto the print area. A powder spreading method is disclosed that operates an impeller to start depositing powder from a hopper into a print area located within a build box as a gantry moves the hopper in a first direction across the print area; operating a spreader rod to smooth out the powder on the print area as the gantry moves the hopper and the spreader rod across the print area in the first direction; and upon the gantry reaching a predetermined position in the print area, stopping the impeller to stop depositing the powder while continuing to operate the spreader rod.

A powder spreading apparatus includes a hopper having a first end, a second end opposite from the first end, a front wall, a rear wall opposite from the front wall, and a floor. The front wall, the rear wall, the first end, the second end, and the floor define an interior. An impeller is disposed within the interior of the hopper. The impeller includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced flutes and is configured to rotate about an impeller axis that extends from the first end of the hopper to the second end of the hopper to deposit powder onto a print area. A spreader rod is coupled to the hopper and extends along a spreader rod axis parallel to the impeller axis. The spreader rod is configured to rotate about the spreader rod axis to smooth the powder as it is deposited onto the print area. A powder spreading method is disclosed that operates an impeller to start depositing powder from a hopper into a print area located within a build box as a gantry moves the hopper in a first direction across the print area; operating a spreader rod to smooth out the powder on the print area as the gantry moves the hopper and the spreader rod across the print area in the first direction; and upon the gantry reaching a predetermined position in the print area, stopping the impeller to stop depositing the powder while continuing to operate the spreader rod.

The devices, systems, and methods of the present disclosure are directed to powder spreading and binder distribution techniques for consistent and rapid layer-by-layer fabrication of three-dimensional objects formed through binder jetting. For example, a powder may be spread to form a layer along a volume defined by a powder box, a binder may be deposited along the layer to form a layer of a three-dimensional object, and the direction of spreading the layer and depositing the binder may be in a first direction and in a second direction, different from the first direction, thus facilitating rapid formation of the three-dimensional object with each passage of the print carriage over the volume. Powder delivery, powder spreading, thermal energy delivery, and combinations thereof, may facilitate consistently achieving quality standards as the rate of fabrication of the three-dimensional object is increased.

The devices, systems, and methods of the present disclosure are directed to powder spreading and binder distribution techniques for consistent and rapid layer-by-layer fabrication of three-dimensional objects formed through binder jetting. For example, a powder may be spread to form a layer along a volume defined by a powder box, a binder may be deposited along the layer to form a layer of a three-dimensional object, and the direction of spreading the layer and depositing the binder may be in a first direction and in a second direction, different from the first direction, thus facilitating rapid formation of the three-dimensional object with each passage of the print carriage over the volume. Powder delivery, powder spreading, thermal energy delivery, and combinations thereof, may facilitate consistently achieving quality standards as the rate of fabrication of the three-dimensional object is increased.

A method for manufacturing a three-dimensional shaped object includes a structure shaping step of supplying a shaping material including metal powder or ceramic powder, and supplying a binder to a region corresponding to a structure S of the three-dimensional shaped object to be shaped in the shaping material (step S140), a support shaping step of shaping, with a support material including a resin, a support T supporting the structure S (step S130), and a degreasing step of degreasing the support T and the binder, the support T being in a state of supporting the structure S (step S200).