[Object] To provide a single-crystal fiber production equipment and a single-crystal fiber production method that do not at all require high precision control necessary for a conventional single-crystal production equipment, can very easily maintain a stable steady state for a long time, and can stably produce a long single crystal fiber having a length of several hundreds of meters or more.

[Solution] The single-crystal fiber production equipment is used to produce a single crystal fiber by irradiating an upper surface of a raw material rod with a laser beam within a chamber to form a melt, immersing a seed single crystal in the melt, and pulling the seed single crystal upward. The single-crystal fiber production equipment includes: a laser light source that emits the laser beam as a collimated beam; a pulling device configured to be upward and downward movable in a vertical direction with the seed single crystal held thereby; and a flat reflector that reflects the laser beam such that the reflected laser beam is incident vertically on the upper surface of the raw material rod. The upper surface of the raw material rod is irradiated with the laser beam such that the melt has a donut-shaped temperature distribution.

[Object] To provide a single-crystal fiber production equipment and a single-crystal fiber production method that do not at all require high precision control necessary for a conventional single-crystal production equipment, can very easily maintain a stable steady state for a long time, and can stably produce a long single crystal fiber having a length of several hundreds of meters or more.

[Solution] The single-crystal fiber production equipment is used to produce a single crystal fiber by irradiating an upper surface of a raw material rod with a laser beam within a chamber to form a melt, immersing a seed single crystal in the melt, and pulling the seed single crystal upward. The single-crystal fiber production equipment includes: a laser light source that emits the laser beam as a collimated beam; a pulling device configured to be upward and downward movable in a vertical direction with the seed single crystal held thereby; and a flat reflector that reflects the laser beam such that the reflected laser beam is incident vertically on the upper surface of the raw material rod. The upper surface of the raw material rod is irradiated with the laser beam such that the melt has a donut-shaped temperature distribution.

Disclosed is a method of preparing single crystal ingot of barium zirconium oxide. The method includes preparing a cylindrical BaZrO.sub.3 ceramic by pulverizing a BaZrO.sub.3 compound into a powder and sintering the same into a cylindrical ceramic form, ii) fixing two cylindrical BaZrO.sub.3 ceramics to an optical floating zone furnace, joining the two cylindrical BaZrO.sub.3 ceramics together and melting the junction at a temperature of 2,600 to 3,500° C. using light emitted from a xenon lamp or laser, and after the melting, moving the two cylindrical BaZrO.sub.3 ceramics in a direction parallel to an axis of rotation thereof, enabling the molten junction to be solidified, and thereby growing a single crystal.

[Object] To provide a single-crystal fiber production equipment and a single-crystal fiber production method that do not at all require high precision control necessary for a conventional single-crystal production equipment, can very easily maintain a stable steady state for a long time, and can stably produce a long single crystal fiber having a length of several hundreds of meters or more. [Solution] The single-crystal fiber production equipment is used to produce a single crystal fiber by irradiating an upper surface of a raw material rod with a laser beam within a chamber to form a melt, immersing a seed single crystal in the melt, and pulling the seed single crystal upward. The single-crystal fiber production equipment includes: a laser light source that emits the laser beam as a collimated beam; a pulling device configured to be upward and downward movable in a vertical direction with the seed single crystal held thereby; and a flat reflector that reflects the laser beam such that the reflected laser beam is incident vertically on the upper surface of the raw material rod. The upper surface of the raw material rod is irradiated with the laser beam such that the melt has a donut-shaped temperature distribution.

[Object] To provide a single-crystal fiber production equipment and a single-crystal fiber production method that do not at all require high precision control necessary for a conventional single-crystal production equipment, can very easily maintain a stable steady state for a long time, and can stably produce a long single crystal fiber having a length of several hundreds of meters or more. [Solution] The single-crystal fiber production equipment is used to produce a single crystal fiber by irradiating an upper surface of a raw material rod with a laser beam within a chamber to form a melt, immersing a seed single crystal in the melt, and pulling the seed single crystal upward. The single-crystal fiber production equipment includes: a laser light source that emits the laser beam as a collimated beam; a pulling device configured to be upward and downward movable in a vertical direction with the seed single crystal held thereby; and a flat reflector that reflects the laser beam such that the reflected laser beam is incident vertically on the upper surface of the raw material rod. The upper surface of the raw material rod is irradiated with the laser beam such that the melt has a donut-shaped temperature distribution.

A method of additive manufacturing a structure on a pre-existing includes disposing the pre-existing component in a bed of powdery base material and levelling the component, such that a manufacturing plane of the component can be recoated with the base material and alternatingly recoating and irradiating the manufacturing plane with an energy beam in order to additively build up the structure, wherein the irradiation is carried out in that the manufacturing plane is scanned by the beam in a non-continuous way, wherein, for the irradiation according to a second vector for the structure, the beam is either only guided parallel with respect to a previous first vector, or the irradiation process is paused after the irradiation of the first vector for a time span between 1/10 second to 2 seconds until the irradiation is continued with the second vector.

Some variations provide a method of making an additively manufactured single-crystal metallic component, comprising: providing a feedstock comprising a first metal or metal alloy; providing a build plate comprising a single crystal of a second metal or metal alloy; exposing the feedstock to an energy source for melting the feedstock, generating a melt layer on the build plate; and solidifying the melt layer, generating a solid layer (on the build plate) of a metal component. The solid layer is also a single crystal of the first metal or metal alloy. The method may be repeated many times to build the part. Some variations provide a single-crystal metallic component comprising a plurality of solid layers in an additive-manufacturing build direction, wherein the plurality of solid layers forms a single crystal of a metal or metal alloy with a continuous crystallographic texture. The crystal orientation may vary along the additive-manufacturing build direction.

Some variations provide a method of making an additively manufactured single-crystal metallic component, comprising: providing a feedstock comprising a first metal or metal alloy; providing a build plate comprising a single crystal of a second metal or metal alloy; exposing the feedstock to an energy source for melting the feedstock, generating a melt layer on the build plate; and solidifying the melt layer, generating a solid layer (on the build plate) of a metal component. The solid layer is also a single crystal of the first metal or metal alloy. The method may be repeated many times to build the part. Some variations provide a single-crystal metallic component comprising a plurality of solid layers in an additive-manufacturing build direction, wherein the plurality of solid layers forms a single crystal of a metal or metal alloy with a continuous crystallographic texture. The crystal orientation may vary along the additive-manufacturing build direction.

A method of method of forming or repairing a superalloy article having a columnar or equiaxed or directionally solidified or amorphous or single crystal microstructure includes emitting a plurality of laser beams from selected fibers of a diode laser fiber array corresponding to a pattern of a layer of the article onto a powder bed of the superalloy to form a melt pool; and controlling a temperature gradient and a solidification velocity of the melt pool to form the columnar or single crystal microstructure.

A method of method of forming or repairing a superalloy article having a columnar or equiaxed or directionally solidified or amorphous or single crystal microstructure includes emitting a plurality of laser beams from selected fibers of a diode laser fiber array corresponding to a pattern of a layer of the article onto a powder bed of the superalloy to form a melt pool; and controlling a temperature gradient and a solidification velocity of the melt pool to form the columnar or single crystal microstructure.