There is disclosed an ink composition for three dimensional (3D) printing. The ink composition comprises: a liquid dispersion of tungsten carbide (WC) particles and cobalt (Co) particles, and, a carrier vehicle for the dispersion of tungsten carbide particles and the dispersion of cobalt particles. The ink composition is of a viscosity usable with ink jet print heads for 3D printing.

Apparatus (1) for additively manufacturing three-dimensional objects (2) by means of successive layerwise selective irradiation and consolidation of layers of a build material (3) which can be consolidated by means of an energy source (4), wherein a control unit (6) is provided that is adapted to receive or generate encrypted object data relating to at least one three-dimensional object (2) to be built in a, in particular additive, manufacturing process performed on the apparatus (1), wherein the or a control unit (6) is adapted to decrypt the encrypted object data for performing the additive manufacturing process.

A method and system to dry crack-free and high strength skin including an inorganic binder of an average particle size (D.sub.50) in a range between 10 nm and 700 nm on a porous ceramic body. The method includes supporting the honeycomb body on an end face such that axial channels and outer periphery are substantially vertical. A gas is flowed past the honeycomb body substantially parallel to the axial channel direction, substantially equally around the outer periphery of the skin, to uniformly dry the skin to form a partially dried skin under mild conditions. Then the partially dried skin may be dried more severely resulting in rapidly dried crack-free and high strength skin.

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 disclosed system includes an additive manufacturing printer that performs a layer by layer three-dimensional printing process generating a casting mold based on a three-dimensional numerical specification. The numerical specification is based on a desired casting shape, including internal features such as hollow areas formed by cores, and is further based on a thermo-mechanical model of a casting process. The numerical specification describes variations in material and geometric properties of one or more layers of the casting mold corresponding to variations in the thermal and mechanical properties of the casting processes, as predicted by the thermo-mechanical model. The system may vary the thickness of features of the casting mold, based on predicted cooling rates, to reduce cooling non-uniformities and to provide for controlled, predictable cooling of the casting. The system may further generate trusses and heat sinks in the mold to respectively strengthen and weaken various features of the mold.

A machine for dry decoration of ceramic slabs or tiles, comprising: —a deposit plane (50); —a distributor unit (D), arranged to dispense, in a controlled manner, a ceramic compound in granular or powdered form, formed by two or more different ceramic materials; —a storage container (F), interposed between the distributor unit (D) and the deposit plane (50) to store a certain quantity of ceramic compound dispensed by the distributor unit (D), and comprising an unloading opening (0) arranged to allow the deposit of the ceramic compound on the deposit plane (50); wherein the storage container (F) and the deposit plane (50) are in relative movement with respect to one another along a longitudinal direction (Y); —a control module, connected to the distributor unit (D) and arranged to control and regulate the dispensing of ceramic compound by the distributor unit (D); The machine comprises one or more sensors (S), connected to the control module and arranged to detect a significant parameter of the quantity of ceramic compound contained in the storage container (F) and to process a corresponding measurement signal; The control module is arranged to regulate the dispensing of ceramic compound as a function of the measurement signal received, so as to maintain a desired amount of ceramic compound inside the container (F).

Formwork panel (100) for a formwork device (200) for creating wall or ceiling sections in fresh concrete construction with a sensor (102) integrated in the formwork panel.

An example technique includes extruding, by a tow deposition device, on a tow-by-tow basis, respective impregnated tows of a plurality of respective impregnated tows to form a layer of material on a major surface of a substrate. Each respective impregnated tow includes at least one ceramic fiber and a curable resin coating the at least one ceramic fiber. The example technique includes curing the curable resin to form a cured composite component. An example system includes a tow deposition device, an energy source, and a computing device. The computing device is configured to control the tow deposition device to extrude, on a tow-by-tow basis, respective impregnated tows of a plurality of respective impregnated tows to form a layer of material, and is configured to control the energy source to cure the curable resin to form a cured composite component.

An additive manufacturing system including a two-dimensional energy patterning system for imaging a powder bed is disclosed. The two-dimensional energy patterning system may be used to control the rate of cooling experienced by each successive additive layer. Accordingly, the system may be used to heat treat the various additive layers.

A method for realising a ceramic slab, comprising the following steps: arranging on a first deposition plane (50) a decorated layer (L2) provided with a decoration (200), gradually depositing the decorated soft layer (L2) from a head (H) to a tail (T); gradually transferring the soft layer (L2) by deposition from the first deposition plane (50) to a second deposition plane (83), placed at a lower height than the first deposition plane (50), starting from the tail (T) of the second soft layer (L2), gradually realising a second layer (L3) on the second deposition plane (83).