LASER BEAM SCANNER

Abstract

A laser beam scanner including a laser beams positioning optic, a plurality of optical fibres for delivering a plurality of laser beams and a fibre termination optic aligned to direct the laser beams from output ends of the plurality of optical fibres to the laser beams positioning optic. The laser beams positioning optic is movable relative to the fibre termination optic to scan the laser beams across a working surface.

Claims

1. A laser beam scanner comprising a laser beams positioning optic, a plurality of optical fibres for delivering a plurality of laser beams and a fibre termination optic aligned to direct the laser beams from output ends of the plurality of optical fibres to the laser beams positioning optic, the laser beams positioning optic movable relative to the fibre termination optic to scan the laser beams across a working surface.

2. The laser beam scanner according to claim 1, wherein the termination optic comprises a contoured surface forming a plurality of lenses for collimating and/or focussing each laser beam.

3. The laser beam scanner according to claim 1, wherein the termination optic is connected to a holder for holding the output ends of the plurality of optical fibres, the holder comprising a plurality of channels for receiving and aligning the output ends of the plurality of optical fibres with the termination optic.

4. The laser beam scanner according to claim 3, wherein the termination optic comprises a contoured surface forming a plurality of lenses for collimating and/or focussing each laser beam and the termination optic is connected to the holder such that insertion of the optical fibres into the channels aligns the output ends of each optical fibre with a corresponding one of the lenses of the contoured surface.

5. The laser beam scanner according to claim 3, wherein the termination optic and the holder are formed from a unitary substrate.

6. The laser beam scanner according to claim 3, wherein the termination optic and the holder are separate parts comprising locating formations that relatively locate the two parts when connected together.

7. The laser beam scanner according to claim 1, wherein the holder and/or termination optic are formed using a laser inscribing and chemical etching process.

8. The laser beam scanner according to claim 1, wherein the output ends of the optical fibres are joined, such as welded or fused, to the termination optic.

9. The laser beam scanner according to claim 1, wherein the laser beams positioning optic comprises at least one tiltable mirror for directing the laser beams to different locations on the working surface, and may comprise two tiltable mirrors tiltable about orthogonal axes or two tiltable mirrors tiltable about non-orthogonal axes.

10. The laser beam scanner according to claim 1, comprising a laser beam adjustment optic for dynamically adjusting relative positions of the laser beams on the working surface, wherein the laser beam adjustment optic may comprise a plurality of individually displaceable portions, for example mirror portions, each displaceable portion arranged for steering one or a subset of the laser beams.

11. The laser beam scanner according claim 1, wherein the output ends of the optical fibres are arranged in a rotationally symmetric pattern about an optical axis of the laser beam scanner, such as a triangular, hexagonal or square pattern.

12. The laser beam scanner according to claim 1, wherein the termination optic and output ends of the optical fibres are rotatable about an optical axis of the laser beam scanner.

13. The laser beam scanner according to claim 1, wherein the laser beam scanner comprises a controller for controlling movement of the laser beams positioning optic, the controller arranged to control the laser beams positioning optic to scan the laser beams across the surface to form a set of first tracks with a first pass of the laser beams along the working surface and a set of second tracks with a second pass of the laser beams along the working surface, wherein ones of the second tracks are interspersed between ones of the first tracks.

14. An additive manufacturing apparatus comprising a laser beam scanner according to claim 1.

15. The additive manufacturing apparatus according to claim 14, comprising a controller for controlling the laser beam scanner to scan the laser beams along tracks that extend in different scanning directions for successive layers, the controller further arranged to control lasers that generate the laser beams such that different sub-sets of the laser beams are used to form the tracks extending in different scanning directions.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0035] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a laser bean scanner according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0036] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an end cap for a plurality of optical fibres of the laser beam scanner shown in FIG. 1;

[0037] FIG. 3 is an end view of the termination optic of the end cap shown in FIG. 2;

[0038] FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a powder bed additive manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0039] FIGS. 5a to 5d illustrate single-pass scanning methods for forming a series of equally spaced parallel tracks (hatches) on a working surface with different laser beam configurations (patterns) according to embodiments of the invention;

[0040] FIG. 6 illustrates a multi-pass scanning method for forming a series of equally spaced parallel tracks (hatches) on a working surface using the laser beam configuration shown in FIG. 5b;

[0041] FIGS. 7a to 7c illustrate multi-directional scanning capabilities of the laser beam configurations shown in FIGS. 5a to 5d for forming a series of equally spaced parallel tracks (hatches) on a working surface;

[0042] FIGS. 8a to 8c illustrates a method of forming a series of equally spaced parallel tracks (hatches) on a working surface achievable using a subset of the total available laser beams;

[0043] FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a laser bean scanner according to another embodiment of the invention;

[0044] FIG. 10 shows a laser beam pattern adjustment optic according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0045] FIG. 11 illustrates scanning strategies achievable with the laser beam pattern positioning optic shown in FIG. 10; and

[0046] FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of a laser beam scanner according to another embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0047] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, a laser beam scanner 106 according to an embodiment of the invention comprises a laser beams positioning optic 120, a plurality of optical fibres (in this embodiment seven optical fibres but only three 121a, 121b, 121c are shown) for delivering a plurality of laser beams 122a, 122b, 122c and a unitary fibre termination optic 123a aligned to direct the laser beams 122a, 122b, 122c from output ends of the optical fibres 121a, 121b, 121c to the laser beams positioning optic 120. The laser beams positioning optic 120 is movable relative to the fibre termination optic 123a to scan the laser beams 122a, 122b, 122c across a working surface 124.

[0048] In this embodiment, the laser beams positioning optic 120 comprises a pair of tiltable mirrors (only one of which is shown) mounted to rotate about orthogonal axis such that movement of the mirrors scans the laser beams 122a, 122b, 122c across the working surface 124 in two-dimensions. The tiltable mirrors are driven by galvanometers (not shown) in response to drive signals from a controller. In a further embodiment, a further tiltable mirror is provided having a faster dynamic response than the galvanometer driven mirrors to increase a capability for rapid changes in direction in the two scanning directions. Such an arrangement of mirrors having different dynamic response is disclosed in more detail in WO2016/156824.

[0049] A dynamic focussing optic 129 is provided for maintaining a focus of the laser beams in the plane of the working surface 124 as the beams are steered across the working surface by the tiltable mirrors. In an alternative embodiment, the dynamic focussing optic may be replaced with an f-O lens at an aperture 128 in housing 126 or in a chamber window (such as window 109 shown in FIG. 4) through which the laser beams are directed by the scanner 106.

[0050] The fibre termination optic 123a comprises a contoured surface, distal from the ends of the optical fibres, forming a plurality of lenses 125a to 125g for collimating each diverging laser beam after the laser beam leaves the output end of the corresponding optical fibre. The surface of the fibre termination optic proximal to the ends of the optical fibres is fused to optical fibres to minimise loss at the interface between the optical fibres and the termination optic 123a. Fusing of the optical fibres to the termination optic may be achieved by any suitable means, including transmitting laser beams through the optical fibres to melt material at a contact interface between the optical fibres and the termination optic 123a.

[0051] The termination optic 123a is connected to an optical fibre holder 123b to form a multi-laser delivery optic or end cap 123 for the output ends of the plurality of optical fibres. In this embodiment, the termination optic 123a comprises a female sleeve portion 119 for receiving the cylindrical male holder 123b to connect the termination optic 123a to the holder 123b. The holder 123b is an interference fit within the sleeve 126.

[0052] The optical fibre holder 123b comprises a channel 127a, 127b, 127c for each optical fibre 121a, 121b, 121c. Insertion of an optical fibre into each channel 127a, 127b, 127c aligns an output end of the optical fibre with a corresponding lens 125a to 125g on the termination optic 123a. Once aligned using the holder 123b, the optical ends can be fused to the termination optic 123a.

[0053] In another embodiment, the termination optic 123a is formed as a single-piece together with the holder 123b.

[0054] The holder 123b and the termination optic 123a are formed using a laser inscribing and chemical etching process, for example the process described in PCT/GB2018/050195.

[0055] The end cap 123 is mounted to the housing 126 of the laser scanner 106 by a flexure 118 that allows adjustment of a position of the end cap 123 relative to the positioning and focussing optics 120 and 129. In this way, the collimated laser beams output from the end cap 123 can be aligned together with the optic axis O-O of the optical channel provided by the laser scanner 106.

[0056] The laser scanner can be used in an additive manufacturing apparatus 100. FIG. 4 shows the laser scanner 106 as part of a powder bed additive manufacturing apparatus 100. A plurality of lasers 105a to 105g are connected to the optical scanner 106 via optical fibres (designated generally as 121). The additive manufacturing apparatus comprises a build chamber 101 having an optical window 109 therein, wherein the laser scanner 106 is mounted to deliver the laser beams to a powder bed 104 in the build chamber 101 through the optical window 109. The powder bed 104 is supported by a build platform 102 lowerable within a build sleeve 117. As the build platform 102 is lowered, powder layers are formed across the powder bed 104 using a wiper and dispensing mechanism (now shown). The laser scanner 106 scans the laser beams across each powder layer to solidify the powder material to form the object 103. Operation of the laser scanner 106 and lasers 105a to 105g is under the control of a controller 130. The controller 130 may control the laser scanner 106 and lasers 105a to 105g to carry out scanning strategies as described hereinafter.

[0057] Referring to FIG. 5a, the laser scanner may scan the seven laser beams across each layer to simultaneously form a plurality of tracks (hatches) equally spaced across the powder layer. The rotational symmetry of the laser beam pattern means that simultaneous formation of equally spaced tracks can be achieved for several different scan directions, as shown in FIG. 7a. Varying a scanning direction between layers can be advantageous in minimising directional properties in the eventual object that is manufactured. FIG. 7a shows 6 possible scanning directions for the configuration of seven lasers. However, other requirements may constrain the selection of the scanning direction to a subset of these possible scanning directions, for example if the scanning is to be in a direction opposed to a gas flow across the powder bed, as disclosed in WO2014/125280 and WO2014/125258.

[0058] FIGS. 5b to 5d and 7b to 7d show tracks formed using configurations (patterns) of laser beam spots on the surface of the powder bed with a laser scanner delivering between three and five lasers beams. Configuration 5b, like configuration 5a, provides six possible hatching directions with equally spaced tracks at 60° intervals, whereas configurations 5c and 5d provide eight possible hatching directions with equally spaced tracks at 45° intervals. For each configuration, each laser spot in the pattern is at a different offset in the scanning direction (along the length of the track). This offset can be accounted for to ensure that each track has the correct start and end points through control of the laser firing sequence. This may result in not all the lasers 105a to 105g being fired at the start and the end of a scan of the laser pattern along a scan line across the powder bed 104.

[0059] Should the spacing between the simultaneously formed tracks be wider than that required to form continuously solidified material between adjacent tracks, the gaps of unsolidified material can be later solidified by one or more further passes of the pattern of laser beams along one or more scan lines having a small offset (less than a width of the laser pattern perpendicular to the scan direction) from each other. FIG. 6 shows such a scan strategy for the laser configuration shown in FIG. 5b, wherein four passes of the laser beam pattern give a laser track pitch ¼ of the laser track width provided by a single pass of the laser pattern such that material is continuously solidified between the first three tracks formed on the first pass (shown in bold lines). The number of passes will be different for different patterns of the laser beams and potentially, for different scan parameters, such as laser power, scan speed, (or for a point scanning regime as used in Renishaw's RenAM 500M) exposure time and/or point distance. Each successive pass may be in an opposed direction.

[0060] The scanning strategies described above are predicated on firing all lasers during a pass of the laser beam pattern over an area of the powder bed to be solidified. This provides an efficient use of the laser resources. However, a wider possible set of scanning directions is possible if the requirement to use all lasers during a scan is relaxed. An example is shown in FIGS. 8a to 8c. In this example, the laser spot pattern of FIG. 5c is used. The tracks made in FIG. 8a are uniformly spaced, but if all four lasers are fired, there would be a greater gap between the tracks formed by the laser spot in the centre and the laser spot on the righthand side than that between the adjacent tracks formed by the other laser spots. Accordingly, to keep the track spacing equal, the laser for the righthand spot is not fired when scanning in a direction shown in in FIG. 8a. However, for a different scanning direction, such as that shown in FIG. 8b, the laser for the righthand laser spot is fired, whereas a different one of the lasers is not fired in order to form tracks of equal spacing. By selecting which laser not to fire for each scanning direction, equally spaced tracks can be formed for a greater variety of scanning directions, as shown in FIG. 8c.

[0061] In a further embodiment, different types of lasers may be used for ones of the laser spots. This may be advantageous if the laser scanner 106 is to be used for different purposes during the build, for example for preheating, sintering, melting, laser peening, laser ablation or in-process monitoring. Furthermore, the laser pattern may be moved in a direction such that one laser spot may be used for preheating of the powder material and another of the laser spots used for the solidification of the material. For this purpose, the laser pattern may be scanned in a direction such that the tracks of two laser spots are along the same line (or at least overlap) but with one laser spot following the other along that line. Such a scanning strategy may be achievable with the laser spot configuration shown in Figure Sc with simultaneously utilisation of all the laser beams and for the laser spot configurations shown in FIGS. 5a, 5b and 5d with one of the lasers not being fired. A laser used for preheating may be operated at a lower power than a laser used for solidification. In a further embodiment, the preheating of the powder may be sufficient to sinter the powder, the sintered powder later melted with another of the laser spots on a single pass of the laser beam spot pattern. For different scanning directions, different laser beam spots may be used for preheating/sintering and solidification of the powder.

[0062] A further embodiment of a laser scanner 206 according to the invention is shown in FIG. 9. Features of this embodiment corresponding to features described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 have been given the same reference numerals but in the series 200. Features of this embodiment that are the same or similar to features of the above described embodiment will not be described again and reference is made to the above description for these features. This embodiment differs from the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in that the end cap 223 is mounted for rotation about the optical axis O-O. To this end, bearings 241 are provided to allow for rotation of the end cap 223 in the flexure 225 and a drive mechanism 240 is provided for driving rotation of the end cap 223. The end cap 223 may be rotatable (for example, through a set of angles between 0° and 60° for the laser beam patterns shown in FIGS. 5a and 5b and through a set of angles between 0° and 45° for the laser beam patterns shown in FIGS. 5c and 5d) to increase the number of scanning directions in which equally spaced tracks can be simultaneously formed using a rotationally symmetric pattern of laser beams.

[0063] Alternatively, a non-rotationally symmetric pattern of laser beams may be provided by the end cap 223 and the end cap 223 is rotated to align the laser pattern with a scanning direction for each layer. In this alternative embodiment, the end cap 223 may be rotatable through a set of angles between 0° and 360°. Rotation of the end cap 223 may only be necessary at the start/end of a layer as, once the end cap is aligned with a scanning direction for that layer, all tracks may be formed using that orientation of the end cap 223.

[0064] The laser scanner may be used for continuous scanning in which the pattern of laser spots is moved across the working surface 124, 224 with the lasers switched on or may be used for point scanning, wherein the laser beam pattern is held at a location on the working surface for an exposure time and then moved to a new exposure point. During the movement (or “hop”) to the new location the laser beams may be switched-off. In this way a series of discreet points are exposed rather than a continuous line, although the solidified regions formed by the exposure of discreet points may form a line of continuously solidified material. A laser beam scanner having a triangular tiled pattern of laser beams, as shown in FIGS. 5a and 5b, may be used for a scanning strategy in which the discreet exposure points are distributed in a triangular pattern, as described in WO2016/079496. Exposure of points in a triangular pattern may be used in a multi-layer consolidation strategy in which spaced apart “columns” of material extending across multiple layers are consolidated through exposure of a single layer and unconsolidated material between these columns is consolidated through exposure of later layers, for example as disclosed in unpublished application GB 1803510.5, which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0065] Referring to FIG. 10, in a further embodiment, the relative position of the laser spots on the working surface can be dynamically changed by the laser scanner using laser beam pattern adjustment optic 350 provided in the optical path of the laser beams. The optic 350 comprises a plurality of individually displaceable portions, in this embodiment in the form of four mirror quadrants 351a to 351d. Each mirror quadrant 351a to 351d is pivotably about a central pivot 352 comprising a torsion spring for each mirror quadrant 351a to 351, which biases the mirror quadrant 351a, 351b, 351c, 351d against displacement driven by actuators 353a, 353b. In this embodiment, each mirror quadrant 351a to 351d comprises two actuators 353a, 353b, one at each outer corner of the quadrant 351a to 351d. The actuators 353a, 353b are in the form of piezoelectric stacks that can produce small displacements of the mirror quadrants at high drive frequencies (typically of around 1 mm or less at the working surface compared to hundreds of millimetres of displacement achievable with the main beam positioning optics 120, 220). Between each pair of mirror quadrants 351a to 351d is a flexible film 354a to 345d for allowing small relative displacements between the mirror quadrants 351a to 351d. The laser beam pattern adjustment optic 350 is located within the laser scanner such that a different one of the laser beams 322a to 322d delivered along the optical channel impinges on a different one of the mirror quadrants 351a to 351d. The laser beam pattern adjustment optic 350 may be located between the termination optic and the galvanometer driven tiltable mirrors for steering of the laser beams pattern across the working surface. The laser beam pattern adjustment optic 350 may be at a location along the optical axis where the laser beams are collimated, for example between the termination optic 123a and the focussing optic 129.

[0066] In this embodiment, a laser beam pattern adjustment optic 350 with four quadrant mirrors is described for steering a pattern consisting of four laser beams. However, it will be understood that a different number of mirror portions may be required for a laser beam pattern comprising a different number of laser beams. In such embodiments, each mirror portion may not be quadrant shaped but may have a shape that is a different circular sector, such as a 120° sector, sextant or octant.

[0067] The beam pattern adjustment optic 350 may be used for several purposes during scanning of the overall laser beam pattern with the positioning optic 120, 220.

[0068] It may be desirable to alter the relative positions of the laser beam spots to obtain the desired spacing between tracks when scanning in a particular scanning direction. The ability to alter the relative positions of the laser beam spots in the pattern may increase the number of scanning directions available for forming tracks with a set spacing.

[0069] Furthermore, it may be desirable to dynamically change the relative positions of the laser beams in the pattern to achieve a desired distribution of exposure points that would not be achievable by stepping a fixed pattern of the laser beams across the working surface. For example, at 401 in FIG. 11 a pattern of four laser beams are scanned along tracks to achieve a triangular pattern of exposure points. To achieve this, the laser spots are slightly displaced using the laser beam pattern positioning optic 350 from the square array of spots shown in FIG. 5c, with certain ones of the laser spots being held at a point on the working surface whilst other ones of the spots are hopped between adjacent spot along the corresponding track. The holding of the spot at a point on the working surface and subsequent hopping to the adjacent point may be achieved using the technique described in WO2016/156824, which is incorporated herein by reference, in particular, with reference to FIGS. 4a and 4b of WO2016/156824. In FIG. 11, the spots in dotted lines are shown in a position displaced from the “neutral” (unbiased) position on the circumference of the circle. The two triangles included in FIG. 11 are to illustrate that when some spots of the pattern in the neutral position coincide with a point exposure on the surface for a triangular pattern of point exposures other ones of the laser spots, when in the “neutral” position, will be spaced from an exposure point hence the need for a small displacement of the laser spot from the “neutral” position through actuation of the corresponding mirror quadrant. In this way, point exposure patterns are achievable on the working surface that are not multiples of the image of the laser beams provided by the end cap 123, 223.

[0070] Individual control of the position of the laser beam spots may allow the laser spots to be hopped at different times onto an adjacent track to be scanned on a further pass of the laser beam pattern over the working surface as shown at 402 in FIG. 11. This may allow the laser beam pattern to be turned around at the edge of an area to be solidified whilst material continues to be solidified (as opposed to Skywriting wherein the lasers beam is switched off during a turn to avoid defects that can result from melting during deceleration and acceleration of the galvanometer steering mirrors). Each laser beam can be hopped to the next exposure point at the required time using the faster dynamic response of mirror 350 even if the “neutral” position of the laser spot has yet to reach that exposure point. As shown in FIG. 11, due to the offset nature of the laser beam spots in the pattern, “early” turning of the laser beam pattern at the edge of the area (indicated by dotted line 403) to minimise non-firing times of the laser beams may result in some tracks not extending to the edge of the area to be solidified as the edge of the area is not within the range of the corresponding laser beam. These unsolidified areas may be later filled in when carrying out a border scan of the area.

[0071] In a further scanning strategy shown at 404, the pattern is located such that the “neutral” position for the laser spots falls between tracks of exposure points and the laser beam pattern adjustment optic 350 is used to hop the laser spots between exposure points on adjacent tracks (as shown by the dashed, dashed and dotted and solid line spots) as the pattern is progressed in a scanning direction. In this way, adjacent tracks of exposure points may be solidified in a single pass of the laser beam pattern.

[0072] FIG. 12, shows another embodiment of a laser scanner according to an embodiment of the invention. Features of this embodiment corresponding to features described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 have been given the same reference numerals but in the series 500. Features of this embodiment that are the same or similar to features of the above described embodiment will not be described again and reference is made to the above description for these features. This embodiment differs from the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in that the termination optic 523a presents to each optical fibre 521a, 521b, 521c planar proximal and distal faces transverse (perpendicular) to a propagation direction of the laser beam delivered through the optical fibre 521a, 521b, 521c. Accordingly, the laser beams 522a, 522b, 522c from the optical fibres 521a, 521b, 521c are not collimated at the termination optic 523a but continue to diverge until reaching the focussing optic 520.

[0073] An alternative method for forming the end cap comprises stripping the outer coating off ends of a set of optical fibres and then bundling the bare glass fibre ends into a required pattern, such as those described above with reference to FIGS. 5a to 5d, using a μg to form a fibre array. In the case of a fibre array of seven optical fibres, the optical fibres can be stacked in a hexagonal pattern, whereas for the other patterns, appropriate spacers are provided. The fibre array is fed into a glass capillary having an appropriate inner diameter. An inner diameter of the glass capillary may taper outwardly at an insertion end to facilitate insertion of the optical fibre ends into the glass capillary. Heat is then applied, for example using a CO.sub.2 laser or H.sub.2 flame, to the glass capillary to shrink the capillary around the array of fibre ends. An end of the capillary and array of fibre ends is then cleaved or otherwise cut to provide a planar end face of optical fibres and capillary, which is fused to a termination optic, such as described above, using, for example, an electric arc, CO.sub.2 laser or H.sub.2 flame. The planar end face may be polished before being fused to the termination optic.

[0074] In a further embodiment, a multi-core fibre is formed having the required pattern of optical fibre cores and this multi-core fibre is fused to a termination optic. Lasers can be fed to the multi-core optical fibre by using free-space optics, although this may be expensive and require careful alignment during production, or spliced to a fan-out optic, which splits the multi-core fibre into individual optical fibres. The fan out optic may be manufactured by forming an appropriate end cap for the delivery end of the multi-core fibre. The end cap may be similar to the end cap described with respect to FIG. 12, with the multi-core fibre fused to an opposite side of a central termination optic such that the laser beams pass from the individual optical fibres into the multi-core fibre via the central termination optic. Alignment of the individual optical fibres with the multicore fibre may be achieved through the formation of appropriately positioned channels either side of the termination optic. The end cap may be formed using laser inscribing and chemical etching or through the above described method of shrinking a glass capillary tube around the fibres.

[0075] It will be understood that alterations and modifications to the above described embodiments can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined herein. For example, use of the laser scanner is not limited to additive manufacturing apparatus but the laser scanner may be used with other apparatus, such as laser marking apparatus.