The present disclosure discloses a method for compression casting concrete to reduce the amount of cement, including: adopting any existing concrete mix proportion designed for concrete of given strength, mixing the concrete, pouring the concrete into a mould, and compressing the concrete at a given pressure, where 28-day strength of the compacted concrete is increased; gradually reducing the amount of cement while keeping the amounts of other materials unchanged, where 28-day strength of the concrete is gradually reduced until the concrete meets a design index; proportionally reducing amounts of water and cement in a last mix proportion while keeping the amounts of other materials unchanged, where during compression casting of the concrete, discharge of cement paste is gradually reduced until no cement paste is discharged; and compression casting a concrete member according to a final mix proportion.

Methods and systems are provided for using optical interferometry in the context of material modification processes such as surgical laser, sintering, and welding applications. An imaging optical source that produces imaging light. A feedback controller controls at least one processing parameter of the material modification process based on an interferometry output generated using the imaging light. A method of processing interferograms is provided based on homodyne filtering. A method of generating a record of a material modification process using an interferometry output is provided.

The present disclosure generally relates to additive manufacturing systems and methods involving a mechanism for feeding in a desired amount of fresh recoater blade. This can be accomplished by, for example, spooling the fresh blade material from a spool. This helps prevent work stoppage when a portion of a recoater blade becomes damaged. As such, the present disclosure also relates to a system and method for detecting whether a recoater blade is damaged, and if there is damage, then causing a fresh blade portion to be fed in.

An inference system for monitoring a cementitious mixture for three-dimensional printing is provided. The inference system includes an ambient condition sensor, a temperature sensor, a moisture sensor and an image capturing device. The inference system also includes a controller coupled to the ambient condition sensor, the temperature sensor, the moisture sensor, and the image capturing device. The controller receives sensed ambient conditions, a temperature signal, and a moisture content signal. The controller receives an image feed of a portion of a cementitious mixture. The controller also receives signals indicative of a motor speed and a motor torque associated with a mixing container. The controller builds a model and determines a material suitability of the cementitious mixture using the model based on the received ambient conditions, the temperature signal, the moisture content signal, the image feed, the motor speed, and the motor torque and determines one or more corrective actions.

The present invention discloses a system for 3D printing by using meniscus-confined electrodeposition, using at least one pipette, carrying at least one electrolyte, at least one means of thickness or deposition rate assessment and at least one motion control mechanism, configured to allow the deposition of at least one deposited metal on a substrate. The invention also discloses a method of 3D printing, characterized by one or more steps of meniscus-confined electrodepositing, using at least one pipette, carrying at least one electrolyte, utilizing at least one means of thickness or deposition rate assessment and at least one motion control mechanism, thereby enabling the deposing of at least one deposited metal on a substrate.

A method for providing control data for a generative layer construction device includes accessing layer data records that have data models of buildup material layers to be selectively solidified, where a base surface region of an object cross section exists in at least one layer data record, where in at least one of p layers below the base surface region, no solidification of buildup material is specified. The method further includes changing the layer data record such that a temporal sequence for scanning the associated object cross section with energy radiation is specified such that at least one portion of the base surface region is scanned before all other parts of the object cross section; and a third step, where the changed layer data record is provided for the generation of a control data record for the device.

A three-dimensional shaping apparatus includes a shaping table, a layer forming section that forms a powder layer at the shaping table, a first head that ejects a liquid containing a binder to a shaping region from a first nozzle, a second head that ejects a liquid containing ceramic particles to a boundary region with respect to the shaping region from a second nozzle, and a control unit that controls movement of the first head and the second head with respect to the shaping table and driving of the first head and the second head by applying a voltage, wherein the control unit performs control so as to cause the first head to execute a first flushing operation and to cause the second head to execute a second flushing operation under a flushing condition different from that for the first flushing operation.

An automated system and associated method of producing manhole products includes an area closed production loop where molds are moved to discrete workstations. A standard set of tasks (e.g., mold cleaning and release agent application, reinforcement placement, pre-pouring activities and inspection, filling, curing, and product demolding) are performed at various ones of the workstations. Once one of these tasks is completed, the mold moves to the next workstation. This enables a transition from ‘cast on the floor’ method to an assembly line principle.

3D printing methods for workpiece supports, support structures, and workpieces having supports are disclosed. In an embodiment, a printing method of a workpiece support includes the following steps. (1) Configuring a first printing scheme by a printing software installed in a printing apparatus and configuring a workpiece support model according to the first printing scheme. (2) Printing a workpiece support skeleton according to the first printing scheme and the workpiece support model by the printing apparatus and obtaining the workpiece support by filling the workpiece support skeleton. Optionally, step (2) includes controlling a second nozzle to eject a ceramic wire according to the first printing scheme and the support model and controlling a first nozzle to eject a linear material according to the support model to fill the workpiece support skeleton.

Embodiments relate to the methodology of direct manufacture of a customized labial/lingual orthodontic tube by using a ceramic slurry-based additive manufacturing (AM) technology. For example, a method of manufacturing customized ceramic labial/lingual orthodontic tubes by additive manufacturing may comprise measuring dentition data of a profile of teeth of a patient, based on the dentition data, creating a three-dimensional computer-assisted design (3D CAD) model of the patient's teeth, and saving the 3D CAD model, designing a virtual 3D CAD tube structure model for a single labial or lingual tube structure based upon said 3D CAD model, importing data related to the 3D CAD tube structure model into an additive manufacturing machine, and directly producing the tube with the additive manufacturing machine by layer manufacturing from an inorganic material including at least one of a ceramic, a polymer-derived ceramic, and a polymer-derived metal.