A system and method for controlling an additive manufacturing system to form a multi-material component. Operating parameter values may be determined for the additive manufacturing system based on a first material and a second material used to form the multi-material component to ensure a requisite level of bonding between particles of a gradient between the first and second materials. Data or models for the first and second materials, along with observed data from a plurality of sample multi-material components formed from the first and second materials may be utilized to determine the operating parameter values. In some cases, the operating parameter values may be tuned to form a multi-material component having predetermined values for parameter objectives along the gradient of the multi-material component. The additive manufacturing system may be a selective laser melting system.

A system and methods are disclosed for producing components via additive manufacturing. In one embodiment, a three-dimensional geometry is sliced using a slicing plane to obtain a first two-dimensional geometry. A first polyline is generated based on a first skeleton of the first two-dimensional geometry, and a first slender body is generated based on the first polyline. The first slender body is subtracted from the first two-dimensional geometry to obtain a second two-dimensional geometry. A second polyline is generated based on a second skeleton of the second two-dimensional geometry. A first bundle of fibers is produced based on a segmentation of the first polyline and a second bundle of fibers is produced based on a segmentation of the second polyline. A component is produced from the first and second bundles of fibers using an additive manufacturing process.

A system and methods are disclosed for producing components via additive manufacturing. In one embodiment, a three-dimensional geometry is sliced using a slicing plane to obtain a first two-dimensional geometry. A first polyline is generated based on a first skeleton of the first two-dimensional geometry, and a first slender body is generated based on the first polyline. The first slender body is subtracted from the first two-dimensional geometry to obtain a second two-dimensional geometry. A second polyline is generated based on a second skeleton of the second two-dimensional geometry. A first bundle of fibers is produced based on a segmentation of the first polyline and a second bundle of fibers is produced based on a segmentation of the second polyline. A component is produced from the first and second bundles of fibers using an additive manufacturing process.

In an example, a method for generating control data for production of a three-dimensional object is described. A model of the three-dimensional object is obtained as a array of voxels, and it is determined for each voxel whether that voxel comprises part of a first or a second sub-object of the three-dimensional object. Each first sub-object voxel is mapped to a volume coverage representation defining print material data for that voxel. The second sub-object voxels are mapped to a volume coverage representation defining common print material data for the voxels of second sub-object. Control data for printing the first sub-object is generated from the print material data for that voxel common print material data for the Control data for printing the second sub-object is generated according to the volume coverage representation for the second sub-object.

A method of additive manufacture involves building a container 8 and a structure by fusing powder 12, 13, 14, such that the container contains the structure and unfused powder. The container 8 may be used in a method for predicting powder degradation in an additive manufacturing process. Containers containing different types of structure may be built to measure the effect of building different types of structures on powder degradation. A structure to be built may be characterised by classes of structural features it contains and information obtained used from building containers used to predict how building the structure will degrade powder.

A building plan assistance method by which a mathematical model is used to associate input information, including the respective items of the material of a build object, a weld condition of weld beads, and a weld track, with output information including a characteristic value of the build object when additively manufactured under the condition of the input information, and a database is created using the mathematical model. The database is searched for a build object material, a weld condition, and a weld track corresponding to a target characteristic value of the build object to be manufactured, and the obtained build object material, weld condition, and weld track are presented. In the creating of the database, each of input sub-items of the input information items is associated with an individual characteristic value of the output information by means of the mathematical model.

A data output apparatus includes first circuitry configured to acquire predetermined information used for a three-dimensional fabrication; and second circuitry configured to output quality information for a three-dimensional object fabricated during the three-dimensional fabrication based on the predetermined information.

A system and method for monitoring and controlling build quality during electron beam manufacturing of a build part. The system may include at least one electron beam source to direct at least one electron beam onto a plurality of deposited layers of metallic powder to form a melt pool, a detector to detect in real-time backscattered energy ejected from the melt pool and indicative of a defect in the build part and generate a detection signal representative of the defect. A controller receives and analyzes the detection signal and generates a corrective signal for control of at least one of the actuator and the at least one electron beam source to direct the at least one electron beam onto the plurality of deposited layers of metallic powder to sequentially consolidate patterned portions of the plurality of deposited metallic powder layers to adaptively form the three-dimensional build part.

A data output apparatus includes first circuitry configured to acquire predetermined information used for a three-dimensional fabrication; and second circuitry configured to output quality information for a three-dimensional object fabricated during the three-dimensional fabrication based on the predetermined information.

An in-process real-time method, system and device is provided for monitoring the quality of an article made by additive manufacturing processes. The invention involves the transmission and reception of waves into a test artifact while it is being built. The properties of received waves depend on the parameters of the additive manufacturing process, the properties of materials involved, and their irregularities as well as geometric deviations, as its structural periodicity and defects leads to the dispersion of waves. Based on the features of the artifact, the test artifact is designed to capture deviations in all or a sub-set of process, material, and geometric parameters. A computing device in communications with operators, the control unit of the additive manufacturing machine and other computing facilities is used for creating and analyzing waveforms. The disclosed system may initiate real-time actions based on the properties of the obtained waveforms.