METHOD AND MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING PIECES MADE OF CERAMIC OR METALLIC MATERIAL BY THE TECHNIQUE OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

Abstract

The disclosed method includes selecting a suspension ceramic or metal photocurable composition (CPC or MPC); preparing a sacrificial organic material (SOM) forming a photocurable layer destroyed by heating; for manufacturing pieces, on the working tray, forming successive layers of SOM cured by irradiation, the one or more CPC or MPC-based pieces being manufactured by machining a recess in a layer of cured SOM; depositing the CPC or MPC within the recesses; curing the CPC or MPC to obtain a hard horizontal surface level with the adjacent layer of cured SOM, when forming each recess, it is delimited by previously defined patterns, the depth(s) selected in order to ensure the continuity of the one or more pieces to be manufactured; and obtaining one or more green pieces inserted in the SOM, which are subjected to debinding by heating in order to destroy the SOM in which they are trapped.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing at least one piece made of at least one material selected from the ceramic materials and the metallic materials using the technique of additive manufacturing, said one or more pieces being formed in the green state, and then subjected to debinding and sintering operations, said method comprising the following steps: (1) building, by computer-aided design, a computer model of the piece to be manufactured or of the pieces to be simultaneously manufactured; (2) forming, on a working tray, said one or more pieces to be manufactured, which are based on a ceramic or metallic photocurable composition (CPC or MPC) comprising: a mineral part consisting of at least one powdered ceramic material or at least one powdered metallic material; and an organic part able to be destroyed by heating during the debinding, and comprising at least one photocurable monomer and/or oligomer and at least one photoinitiator, the method comprising: selecting a CPC or MPC having the consistency of a suspension able to flow in order to form a layer; preparing a sacrificial organic material (SOM) able to form a photocurable layer and to be destroyed by heating during the debinding, said SOM comprising at least one photocurable monomer and/or oligomer and at least one photoinitiator; for the building of said one or more pieces, on the working tray, forming successive layers of SOM which are stacked on each other, each layer of SOM being caused to cure by irradiation before applying the next layer, the one or more properly speaking pieces based on CPC or MPC being built by: forming, by machining, at least one recess in at least one layer of cured SOM from the upper surface thereof; depositing, within said one or more recesses, the CPC or MPC in order to fill the one or more recesses; curing, by irradiation, the CPC or MPC located within said one or more recesses in order to obtain a hard horizontal surface having the same level as the adjacent layer of cured SOM, wherein when forming each recess, the latter is delimited according to the one or more patterns previously defined from the computer model, and the depth(s) thereof selected in order to ensure the continuity of the piece(s) to be manufactured, and obtaining, once the cured layers are stacked, one or more green pieces embedded in the SOM, such green pieces being subjected to a debinding by heating in order to destroy the SOM in which it is trapped or they are trapped, so as to release it or them and then submit it or them to a sintering.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising using a pasty SOM which is spread in a layer by scraping or a suspended SOM which is applied by dipping the tray in a bath of said suspension in order to form, each time, the layer of SOM to be cured, and scraping the layer thus formed.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more pieces to be manufactured comprise at least one lateral part which should be supported during the building, and wherein before the building, a computer model of the shape of the SOM in cured state was built, by computer-aided design, this shape being such that the one or more manufactured pieces are supported during their building.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising performing, in order to form the one or more recesses, a mechanical machining.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising performing, in order to form the one or more recesses, laser machining, namely in conditions of setting the laser power between 1 and 3 watts and the laser displacement speed between 1 and 100 millimeters per second.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, at each machining step, blowing and sucking the debris.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising applying the CPC or MPC within the one or more recesses by a dispensing nozzle.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising curing, by laser irradiation, of each layer of SOM and curing, by laser irradiation, of the layers of CPC or MPC located within the recesses under the conditions of setting the laser power between 70 and 700 milliwatts and a laser displacement speed between 1,000 and 6,000 millimeters per second.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising debinding at a temperature between 50 and 800 C.

10. A machine for manufacturing at least one piece made of at least one material selected from the ceramic materials and the metallic materials by the method using the technique of additive manufacturing such as defined in claim 1, the machine comprising: a frame surrounding a working tray comprising a working surface; irradiating means facing the working surface; means for supplying and spreading into layers, on the working tray, a sacrificial photocurable organic material (SOM); machining means able to form at least one recess in a layer of photocured SOM from the upper part thereof; means for blowing and sucking the debris resulting from said machining; means for filling the one or more recesses formed in each layer of photocured SOM in order to complete the layer thus recessed by a ceramic or metallic photocurable composition (CPC or MPC) able to flow; irradiating means arranged above the working tray and able to irradiate, in order to cure it, each layer of SOM once spread, and irradiate, in order to cure it, the CPC or MPC once located within the recesses made in the successive layers of cured SOM.

11. The machine according to claim 10, able to apply into layers a SOM under the form of a paste, further comprising a gantry having at least one scraping blade and being able to move on the frame above the working surface such that the free edge of the one or more scraping blades is able to spread the layers of SOM paste on the working surface, or wherein the SOM is supplied by at least one dispensing nozzle movable in front of at least one scraping blade which spreads the SOM into an uniform layer when passing thereon.

12. The machine according to claim 10, able to apply into layers a SOM under the form of a suspension, further comprising a tank to be filled with said suspension, in which the working tray is able to be lowered step by step in order to form thereon, at each step, a layer to be irradiated, as well as a recoater in order to ensure that the suspension is dispensed on the entire surface to be irradiated.

13. The machine according to claim 10, wherein the means for supplying at least one CPC or MPC on the working surface are constituted by at least one dispensing nozzle movable above a corresponding recess in order to apply the corresponding composition therein.

14. The machine according to claim 11, wherein the or at least one of the nozzles is supplied with SOM or CPC or MPC by a hose connected to a tank.

15. The machine according to claim 11, wherein the or at least one of the nozzles is supplied with SOM or CPC or MPC by a cartridge which forms the upper part of it, which contains a stock of SOM or CPC or MPC and which is refillable from a supply tank that can be mounted on the machine, or which when empty is replaceable by a full cartridge, wherein this replacement can be ensured by a robotic arm.

16. The machine according to claim 11, wherein the or at least one of the nozzles is movably mounted using a robotic arm; or on a gantry which has both a slide allowing to move it along the horizontal axis x of the working tray and a slide allowing to move it along the horizontal axis y of the working tray; or on a gantry having at least one scraping blade in order to allow the displacement thereof along the horizontal axis x of the scraping blade, said gantry also comprising a slide allowing to move it along the horizontal axis y.

17. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of blowing and sucking the debris is performed at the same time as said machining is conducted.

18. The machine of claim 14, wherein the tank is a piston supply tank.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0063] In order to better illustrate the subject-matter of the present invention, a particular embodiment of it will be described below, for indicative and non-limiting purposes, with reference to the appended drawings.

[0064] In the drawings:

[0065] FIG. 1 is a perspective schematic view of a piece to be manufactured, comprising a three-dimensional cylindrical passage;

[0066] FIGS. 2 and 3 are schematic views of the piece of FIG. 1 in yz and xz planes, respectively;

[0067] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional schematic view of the piece being manufactured according to the invention;

[0068] FIG. 5 shows schematic views of the piece manufactured according to the invention before the debinding, in the zy and zx planes;

[0069] FIGS. 6 and 7 are perspective schematic views of the piece of FIG. 5 before and after debinding, respectively;

[0070] FIGS. 8-11 illustrate the successive steps for forming a layer of sacrificial photocurable material;

[0071] FIGS. 12 and 13 illustrate the formation of a layer constituted both by a sacrificial organic material and a photocurable ceramic material.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0072] When referring to FIGS. 4-6, it can be seen that the formation of a piece P according to the invention within a shell or hull S made of cured sacrificial organic material is illustrated, the passage p being also filled with sacrificial organic material S.

[0073] When referring to FIG. 8, a machine 1 for manufacturing green pieces has been schematically shown, comprising a device 2 for scraping a paste layer on a working surface of a horizontal working tray 3.

[0074] The scraping device 2, slidably mounted on the frame 4 of the machine, comprises a gantry 5 carrying, at the front part thereof, a scraping blade 6 having a horizontal scraping edge and which moves forwards when referring to FIG. 8, that is, along the horizontal axis x.

[0075] The front vertical wall of the gantry 5 has a horizontal slide 7 along which two nozzles 8, 9 can move along the horizontal axis y, perpendicular to the axis x, one (8) for depositing a photocurable sacrificial organic material and the other (9) for depositing a ceramic photocurable composition.

[0076] In FIG. 11, the galvanometric head 10, which directs the laser beam, is also shown.

[0077] FIG. 8

[0078] A layer of sacrificial organic material 11 is deposited on the working surface of the working tray 3 by moving the scraping device 2 along the axis x and the nozzle 8 along the axis y.

[0079] FIG. 9

[0080] By forward movement, the scraping device 2 has leveled the layer of sacrificial organic material 11 by moving the blade 6.

[0081] FIG. 10

[0082] The scraping device 2 has been returned to the initial position thereof and raised.

[0083] FIG. 11

[0084] The layer 11 thus deposited is caused to polymerize by applying the laser beam, the galvanometric head 10 being in use.

[0085] FIG. 12

[0086] A laser machining of the cured layer 11 is performed in order to form therein a recess 12, this laser machining operation being performed by blowing and sucking the debris together with lasing.

[0087] FIG. 13

[0088] Using the second nozzle 9, a photocurable ceramic composition 13 has been deposited within the recess, which composition is polymerized by applying the laser beam (the galvanometric head 10 being in use).

[0089] The formation of a cured layer of sacrificial organic material and ceramic material has been described, both being photocured.

[0090] The piece being searched is built layer after layer of photocured sacrificial organic material, the recesses intended to be filled with photocurable ceramic material being drilled in at least one layer of previously-cured sacrificial organic material, the depths of the recesses and the locations thereof on the layers of sacrificial organic material being selected in order to ensure the formation of the ceramic piece being searched.