According to examples, an apparatus includes a processor and a memory on which is stored machine readable instructions. The instructions may cause the processor to identify an intended surface property level for a surface of a three-dimensional (3D) object, determine an amount of radiation to be applied as a flash of radiation onto the surface to obtain the intended surface property level, and output the determined amount of radiation to be applied as a flash of radiation, in which a radiation source is to flash apply the determined amount of radiation onto the surface of the 3D object.

A curing device includes a curing platform having at least one curing component arranged on a surface of the curing platform facing a print direction and at least one actuator connecting the curing platform to a dispensing tip. A three dimensional printing system includes a reservoir of curable material, a dispensing tip connected to the reservoir, a curing platform surrounding the dispensing tip, the curing platform having at least one curing component arranged on a surface of the curing platform facing a print direction, and at least one actuator connecting the curing platform to the dispensing tip.

A fabrication device includes a build surface for production of a 3-dimensional solid component, a material delivery system configured to deposit one or more build materials on the build surface, at least one of the one or more build materials being a photocurable material, a first imaging component having a first resolution, and a second imaging component having a second resolution different from the first resolution. In this configuration, the first imaging component and the second imaging component are operable individually and in combination together to selectively irradiate the photocurable material to at least partially solidify successive layers of the 3-dimensional solid component In one example, the lower resolution imaging component solidifies bulk interior regions and the higher resolution component solidifies detailed borders.

Methods for manufacturing articles of footwear are provided. In various aspects, the methods comprise utilizing additive manufacturing methods with foam particles. In some aspects, the additive manufacturing methods comprise increasing the temperature of a plurality of foam particles with actinic radiation under conditions effective to fuse a portion of the plurality of foam particles comprising one or more thermoplastic elastomers. Increasing the temperature of the foam particles can be carried out for one or multiple iterations. The disclosed methods can be used to manufacturer articles with sub-regions that exhibit differing degrees of fusion between the foam particles, thereby resulting in sub-regions with different properties such as density, resilience, and/or flexural modulus. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure.

A multi-chemistry structure includes: a plurality of interconnected polymer struts arranged in a lattice; a first layer of the lattice including a first array of first unit cells; a second layer of the lattice including a second array of second unit cells; at least one region of the lattice being formed of a first polymer; and at least one region of the lattice being formed of a second polymer different from the first polymer.

The invention concerns a method for managing captive preforms immobilized in a heating station during an interruption of production, the preforms following a production stream, the heating station including a device for conveying preforms and a heating cavity bordered by at least one row of emitters of monochromatic electromagnetic radiation. The method consists in ejecting from the production stream the cold captive preforms that have been immobilized before they have been exposed to the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitters to a recycling stream and rejecting from the production stream the hot captive preforms that have been at least partly exposed to the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitters to a reject stream separate from the recycling stream.

A method of altering a refractive property of a crosslinked acrylic polymer material by irradiating the material with a high energy pulsed laser beam to change its refractive index. The method is used to alter the refractive property, and hence the optical power, of an implantable intraocular lens after implantation in the patient's eye. In some examples, the wavelength of the laser beam is in the far red and near IR range and the light is absorbed by the crosslinked acrylic polymer via two-photon absorption at high laser pulse energy. The method also includes designing laser beam scan patterns that compensate for effects of multiphone absorption such as a shift in the depth of the laser pulse absorption location, and compensate for effects caused by high laser pulse energy such as thermal lensing. The method can be used to form a Fresnel lens in the optical zone.

The present invention relates to means for manufacturing micro-beads (polymer micro-particles) comprising thermoplastic polymer and having the average particle size of 10 μm or less, and extending into the nano-range. An original filament comprising a thermoplastic polymer is passed through an orifice under an air pressure (P1) and guided to a spray chamber under a pressure (P2; where P1>P2). The original filament having passed through the orifice is heated and melted under irradiation by an infrared beam, and is sprayed in microparticulate form from the orifice by the flow of air generated by the pressure differential between P1 to P2, whereby micro-beads comprising thermoplastic polymer micro-particles having an average particle size of 10 μm or less, and even less than 1 μm are manufactured.

A device may be provided for additively manufacturing a component, comprising at least one component holder, which is designed to hold the component to be manufactured, and comprising at least one application device, which is designed to heat a thermoplastic material and to deposit it in a predeterminable amount, wherein the device also includes at least one radiation source, which is designed to produce electromagnetic radiation, by means of which at least one partial area of the component can be heated, and the device also includes at least one supply apparatus, which is designed to introduce a fiber reinforcement into the component, which fiber reinforcement includes or consists of an endless fiber. A method for additively manufacturing a component may also be provided.

A three-dimensional shaped article production method for producing a three-dimensional shaped article by stacking layers to form a stacked body includes a constituent layer formation step of forming a constituent layer which corresponds to a constituent region of the three-dimensional shaped article, a support layer formation step of forming a support layer which is in contact with the constituent layer and supports the constituent layer, and a sintering step of sintering the constituent layer, wherein the support layer is configured such that as compared with the volume decrement accompanying the sintering step of a space surrounded by the constituent layer from at least two directions, the volume decrement accompanying the sintering step of the support layer which supports the constituent layer in the space is larger.