US 12,472,561 B2
Additive manufacturing using powder bed fusion
Martyn Hussey, Manchester (GB); Matthew Harvey, Stockport (GB); Ian Laidler, Huddersfield (GB); Jakob Van Den Berg, Manchester (GB); and William Richardson, Stainland (GB)
Assigned to WAYLAND ADDITIVE LIMITED, Huddersfield (GB)
Appl. No. 18/269,227
Filed by WAYLAND ADDITIVE LIMITED, Huddersfield (GB)
PCT Filed Dec. 17, 2021, PCT No. PCT/GB2021/053352
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 22, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/136843, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 30, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 2020407 (GB), filed on Dec. 22, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2024/0058869 A1, Feb. 22, 2024
Int. Cl. B29C 67/00 (2017.01); B22F 10/28 (2021.01); B22F 10/36 (2021.01); B22F 12/41 (2021.01); B22F 12/45 (2021.01); B22F 12/49 (2021.01); B22F 12/90 (2021.01); B33Y 10/00 (2015.01); B33Y 30/00 (2015.01)
CPC B22F 12/41 (2021.01) [B22F 10/28 (2021.01); B22F 10/36 (2021.01); B22F 12/45 (2021.01); B22F 12/49 (2021.01); B22F 12/90 (2021.01); B33Y 10/00 (2014.12); B22F 2202/13 (2013.01); B22F 2998/10 (2013.01); B33Y 30/00 (2014.12)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
4. A powder bed fusion apparatus for use in additive manufacturing, the apparatus comprising:
a first source of first charged particles operable to provide first charged particles, wherein the first charged particles are positively charged ions;
a second source of second charged particles operable to provide a beam of second charged particles of an opposite charge to the first charged particles, wherein the beam of second charged particles is a negatively charged electron beam;
a powder bed for receiving the first charged particles and the beam of second charged particles; and
a controller configured to control operation of the first source and the second source to form a part as a series of layers, each layer formed by the steps of:
(a) irradiating the powder bed with the first charged particles to form a region of first charged particles, wherein the region of first charged particles comprises first charged particles on the powder bed and a cloud of first charged particles in proximity to the powder bed, wherein the powder bed is irradiated such that the powder bed becomes charged to a positive potential;
(b) after the region of first charged particles is formed, irradiating the powder bed using the beam of second charged particles of an opposite charge to the first charged particles, wherein the beam of second charged particles is scanned over the powder bed to melt the powder according to a predetermined pattern; and
(c) deactivating the beam of second charged particles and forming a new layer of powder of the powder bed;
wherein the first source of first charged particles is configured to be active when the powder bed is irradiated using the beam of second charged particles, such that the cloud of first charged particles in proximity to the powder bed is sustained and acts to mitigate charging the powder bed by the beam of second charged particles.