The invention concerns the field of hardmetal materials and relates to hardmetals such as those which can, for example, be used as cutting material for tools. The object of the present invention is to specify hardmetals which include a novel concept for the structural composition of the hardmetals. The object is attained with hardmetals which are at least made up of hard phases in particle form and metal binder arranged therebetween, wherein a high-entropy hard phase (HEH) is composed of at least four metals (Me) of the 4th and/or 5th and/or 6th subgroup of the PTE in the form of a solid solution of carbides, nitrides, carbonitrides, oxycarbides, and/or oxycarbonitrides of the metals, wherein the respective amounts of the metals in the HEH are essentially equal.

A processing system includes: an irradiation part for irradiating an object with an energy beam; a powder supply part for supplying powder to a melt pool formed by an irradiation of the energy beam; an illumination apparatus for illuminating a position of a solidified part where the melt pool is solidified with a second light having a wavelength different from a wavelength of a first light emitted from the melt pool; an imaging apparatus for optically receive at least a part of the first light and at least a part of a third light from a part of the solidified part that is illuminated with the second light; and a display apparatus for displaying, based on an output of the imaging apparatus, an image related to the melt pool and the solidified part.

Methods for joining components, and apparatuses comprising components to be joined, are described. An apparatus in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure comprises a first component comprising a first feature having a first surface profile, and an additively-manufactured second component comprising a second feature having a second surface profile, wherein the second surface profile is generated at least in part from the first surface profile of the first interface, such that the first surface profile is configured to mate with the second surface profile.

Disclosed herein are unitary printed circuit boards (PCBs) and methods of using them for testing an integrated circuit (IC). In some embodiments, a unitary PCB comprises a main board portion and a flexible PCB portion, which are configured to be detached from each other at a separation location on the unitary PCB. The main board portion comprises a plurality of pads, and the flexible PCB portion comprises a plurality of through-holes, where a layout of the through-holes corresponds to a layout of the plurality of pads. In some embodiments, a method of testing an IC of a device comprises separating the unitary PBC into a main board portion and a flexible PCB portion, attaching the IC to the main board portion, soldering the main board portion to a platform PCB of the device, and attaching the flexible PCB portion to the main board portion.

A three-dimensional object model is divided into slices that are targeted for an additive manufacturing process operable to deposit material at a variable deposition size ranging between minimum and maximum printable feature sizes. For each of the slices, a thinning algorithm is applied to contours of the slice to form a meso-skeleton. Topological features of the thinned slice are reduced over a number of passes such that a portion of the meso-skeleton is reduced to a single pixel wide line. Based on the number of passes, a slice-specific printable feature size within the range of the minimum and maximum printable feature sizes is determined. An adjusted slice is formed by sweeping the meso-skeleton with the slice-specific printable feature size. The adjusted slices are assembled into an object model which is used to create a manufactured object.

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.

Some variations provide an aluminum alloy feedstock for additive manufacturing, the aluminum alloy feedstock comprising from 79.8 wt % to 88.3 wt % aluminum; from 1.1 wt % to 2.1 wt % copper; from 3.0 wt % to 4.6 wt % magnesium; from 7.1 wt % to 9.0 wt % zinc; and from 0.5 wt % to 2.8 wt % zirconium as a grain-refiner element. The aluminum alloy feedstock may be in the form of an ingot powder. In some variations, the aluminum alloy feedstock comprises from 81.3 wt % to about 87.8 wt % aluminum; from 1.2 wt % to 2.0 wt % copper; from 3.2 wt % to 4.4 wt % magnesium; from 7.3 wt % to 8.7 wt % zinc; and from 0.5 wt % to 2.8 wt % zirconium.

A machine (10) for additive manufacturing by powder bed deposition comprises a work surface (12), a device (16) for selective consolidation, a device (18) for extracting the fumes, the selective consolidation device emitting at least two beams (F1, F2) of energy or heat. The work surface is divided into at least two work zones (Z1, Z2) adjacent to one another, and a first beam (F1) consolidates the powder in a first work zone (Z1) and a second beam (F2) consolidates the powder in a second work zone (Z2). The fume extraction device (18) comprises at least one central gas suction and/or gas blowing manifold (40) which is mounted to be translationally movable above an overlap zone (ZR) of the different adjacent work zones, and two side gas suction and/or gas blowing manifolds (42, 44) which are fixedly mounted and arranged on either side of the work surface, whcrcin the central manifold (40) extends at least over a maximum dimension of the work surface.

A machine (10) for additive manufacturing by powder bed deposition comprises a work surface (12), a device (16) for selective consolidation, a device (18) for extracting the fumes, the selective consolidation device emitting at least two beams (F1, F2) of energy or heat. The work surface is divided into at least two work zones (Z1, Z2) adjacent to one another, and a first beam (F1) consolidates the powder in a first work zone (Z1) and a second beam (F2) consolidates the powder in a second work zone (Z2). The fume extraction device (18) comprises at least one central gas suction and/or gas blowing manifold (40) which is mounted to be translationally movable above an overlap zone (ZR) of the different adjacent work zones, and two side gas suction and/or gas blowing manifolds (42, 44) which are fixedly mounted and arranged on either side of the work surface, whcrcin the central manifold (40) extends at least over a maximum dimension of the work surface.

Functionally graded materials may comprise a graded volume extending between a tungsten-based structure and a steel-based structure, where the graded volume comprises a plurality of additively manufactured layers. At least one of the plurality of additively manufactured layers may comprise a ternary element selected from vanadium and chromium. Some of the additively manufactured layers may further comprise aluminum.