A 3D printing apparatus is disclosed herein. The apparatus comprises a container, a build material extraction module, an energy source and a controller. The container is to receive a build volume comprising portions in which an un-cured thermally curable binder has been applied to define a 3D object to be generated and portions on which no binder has been applied. The build material extraction module is to remove part of the build material on which no binder has been applied. The energy source to heat the contents of the container. And the controller is to control the build material extraction module to remove part of the build material on which no binder has been applied; and control the energy source to heat the build material to thermally cure any binder in the container.

A 3D printing apparatus is disclosed herein. The apparatus comprises a container, a build material extraction module, an energy source and a controller. The container is to receive a build volume comprising portions in which an un-cured thermally curable binder has been applied to define a 3D object to be generated and portions on which no binder has been applied. The build material extraction module is to remove part of the build material on which no binder has been applied. The energy source to heat the contents of the container. And the controller is to control the build material extraction module to remove part of the build material on which no binder has been applied; and control the energy source to heat the build material to thermally cure any binder in the container.

A method and an apparatus for collecting powder samples in real-time in powder bed fusion additive manufacturing may involves an ingester system for in-process collection and characterizations of powder samples. The collection may be performed periodically and uses the results of characterizations for adjustments in the powder bed fusion process. The ingester system of the present disclosure is capable of packaging powder samples collected in real-time into storage containers serving a multitude purposes of audit, process adjustments or actions.

An unpacking device (4) for unpacking an additively manufactured three-dimensional object (2) from the unsolidified construction material (3) surrounding it after completion of an additive construction process, wherein the unpacking device (4) is formed as a robot (7) having at least three robot axes (A1-A6), especially an industrial robot, wherein at least one unpacking tool (10) is arranged or formed on a robot axis (A6), which is provided for unpacking an additively manufactured three-dimensional object (2) from the unsolidified construction material (3) surrounding it after completion of an additive construction process, or the unpacking device (4) comprises at least one such robot (7).

Examples of methods are described. In some examples, a method includes determining, using a variational autoencoder model, a latent space representation. In some examples, the latent space representation is of object model data. In some examples, the method includes predicting manufacturing powder degradation. In some examples, predicting the manufacturing powder degradation is based on the latent space representation.

A powder sieving system that is configured as part of a powder reclamation system is provided. The powder sieving system includes a support structure; and a filter housing movable relative to the support structure, the filter housing defining an inlet and an outlet and comprising a broad frequency filter disposed between the inlet and the outlet, the broad frequency filter including: a first filter fixed relative to the filter housing, the first filter being substantially rigid; and a second filter coupled within the filter housing adjacent to the first filter, the second filter being substantially flexible such that the second filter is movable relative to the first filter within the filter housing when the filter housing moves relative to the support structure, the first filter and the second filter configured to restrict a first portion of a powder larger than a predetermined threshold from reaching the outlet.

The present disclosure provides three-dimensional (3D) printing processes, apparatuses, software, and systems for the production of at least one desired 3D object. The 3D printer system (e.g., comprising a processing chamber, build module, or an unpacking station) described herein may retain a desired (e.g., inert) atmosphere around the material bed and/or 3D object at multiple 3D printing stages. The 3D printer described herein comprises one or more build modules that may have a controller separate from the controller of the processing chamber. The 3D printer described herein comprises a platform that may be automatically constructed. The invention(s) described herein may allow the 3D printing process to occur for a long time without operator intervention and/or down time.

A method of manufacturing a part including selective laser melting of a powder including a steel alloy containing, by weight, 16% to 19% chromium and 12.2% to 13.5% nickel, wherein the powder is substantially non-magnetic.

Various embodiments of the invention include an apparatus for removing particulates from the surface of a 3D printed workpiece. Various particular embodiments include a material removal apparatus having: an enclosure having a first inlet and a first outlet; a rotatable platform contained within the enclosure for positioning a 3D printed workpiece having particulate on a surface thereof; a pressurized fluid applicator connected to the first inlet and configured to selectively apply a pressurized fluid to the 3D printed workpiece; a vibration source configured to apply an adjustable vibratory frequency to at least one of the rotatable platform or the 3D printed workpiece; and a material reclamation unit connected to the first outlet configured to collect a material removed from the 3D printed workpiece.

An apparatus for carrying out a method for producing an object using selective powder melting and by building up layers of powder material. The apparatus includes a build chamber configured to accommodate the object being produced and a powder delivery device equipped with a powder storage container and configured to supply material powder into the build chamber, a powder layer preparation unit to prepare successive layers of the supplied material powder on a substrate arranged in the build chamber, an irradiation device configured to irradiate a prepared powder layer to thereby melt the prepared powder layer locally, and a protective gas circulation device configured to circulate a protective gas present in the build chamber. At least one air conditioning device is also included and is configured to condition one or more of a temperature or a humidity of the protective gas circulated by the protective gas circulation device.