CN-116406324-B - Flexibility of features of objects to be additively manufactured

CN116406324BCN 116406324 BCN116406324 BCN 116406324BCN-116406324-B

Abstract

In one example, a method includes identifying, by a processing circuit, features of an object to be generated in additive manufacturing that are less than a threshold size. In some examples, the method further includes determining, by the processing circuitry, a first density of a printing agent to be applied to the build material in generating the identified feature of the object based on the expected flexibility of the feature of the object. The method may further include determining, by the processing circuit, a second density of the printing agent to be applied to the build material when generating another feature of the object.

Inventors

1. Fernandes Emmerich
R. Fadurdo Aurellana
A. Codina Sabolit
C. Domingo Manchado

Assignees

惠普发展公司，有限责任合伙企业

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20201030

Claims (14)

1. A method for additive manufacturing, comprising: identifying, by the processing circuitry, features of the object to be generated in additive manufacturing that are less than a threshold size; determining, by processing circuitry, a first density of a printing agent to be applied to a build material in generating the identified feature of the object based on an expected flexibility of the feature of the object, and When another feature of the object is generated that is greater than the threshold size, determining, by the processing circuitry, a second density of the printing agent to be applied to the build material, Wherein the first density and the second density are represented by flux drop numbers per unit area, and wherein the first density is based on the expected flexibility without regard to the predicted temperature of the feature less than the threshold size, and the second density is based on the predicted temperature of the build material in each location.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the feature comprises: features having dimensions below a threshold dimension size are selected.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the dimension is a cross-sectional area of the feature and/or a distance between opposing faces.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the feature comprises: reducing an initial volume of the object in at least one spatial dimension by a threshold amount to provide an eroded object volume; increasing the eroded object volume in the at least one spatial dimension by the threshold amount to provide an expanded object volume; comparing the expanded object volume with the initial object volume, and A difference between the expanded object volume and the initial object volume is identified as a candidate feature that is less than a threshold size.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first density of the printing agent comprises: generating a first test object using a first candidate density of the printing agent when generating the identified feature; generating a second test object using a second candidate density of the printing agent when generating the identified feature, and The first density of printing agent is selected based on the flexibility of the feature on the first test object and the flexibility of the feature on the second test object.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined first density is higher for a lower expected flexibility and lower for a higher expected flexibility.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the desired flexibility is selectable by a user.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the second density comprises: Determining an initial Density value, and Modifying an initial density value for at least one location on the layer of build material based on at least one of: Constructing a predicted or measured temperature profile within the chamber; the position of the object within the build chamber; proximity of the object to another object to be generated within the build chamber, and/or The intended deformation of the object.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining instructions that, when executed by an additive manufacturing apparatus, cause the additive manufacturing apparatus to generate the object using a first density of the printing agent when generating the feature, and The instructions are executed to generate the object.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the object is a brush and the feature smaller than the threshold size is a bristle of the brush.
11. An apparatus for additive manufacturing comprising a processing circuit, the processing circuit comprising: a feature identification module for identifying features of the object to be generated in additive manufacturing that are smaller than a threshold size in the object model data, and A flux module for determining an area coverage of flux to be applied to a build material when generating the object based on a correlation of flux to a flexibility of an identified feature of the object at the time of generation, wherein the flux module is further for determining: A first area coverage of flux to be applied in generating the identified features, and A second area coverage of flux to be applied in creating other features greater than the threshold size, Wherein the first area coverage and the second area coverage are represented by flux drop numbers per unit area, and wherein the first area coverage is based on an expected flexibility of the feature less than the threshold size regardless of a predicted temperature of the feature less than the threshold size, and the second area coverage is based on a predicted temperature of build material in each location.
12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuit further comprises: an instruction module for creating object generation instructions that instruct an additive manufacturing apparatus to use the first area coverage of flux when generating the identified feature and to generate the object based on the second area coverage of flux when generating other features, an The apparatus further comprises: And the additive manufacturing device is used for generating an object according to the object generation instruction.
13. An object generated by additive manufacturing, comprising: a flexible feature generated using the first density of flux that is less than a threshold size; Features larger than the threshold size are generated using the second density of flux, Wherein the first density and the second density are represented by flux drop numbers per unit area, and wherein the first density is based on an expected flexibility of the flexible feature irrespective of a predicted temperature of the flexible feature, and the second density is based on a predicted temperature of build material in each location.
14. The object according to claim 13, wherein: The second density of the flux is greater than the first density of the flux; the first density being substantially constant throughout the flexible feature, and The second density is an average density and the density of the flux varies throughout the feature greater than the threshold size.

Description

Flexibility of features of objects to be additively manufactured Technical content The present disclosure relates generally to the flexibility of features of an object to be additively manufactured. Background Additive manufacturing techniques may generate three-dimensional objects by solidification of build material, for example, on a layer-by-layer basis. In an example of such a technique, the build material may be supplied in a layer-by-layer manner, and the solidification method may include heating the layer of build material to melt the selected region. Among other techniques, chemical curing methods may be used. Disclosure of Invention According to a first aspect of the present disclosure there is provided a method for additive manufacturing comprising identifying, by a processing circuit, a feature of an object to be generated in additive manufacturing that is less than a threshold size, determining, by the processing circuit, a first density of a printing agent to be applied to build material when generating the identified feature of the object based on an expected flexibility of the feature of the object, and determining, by the processing circuit, a second density of a printing agent to be applied to build material when generating another feature of the object that is greater than the threshold size. According to a second aspect of the present disclosure there is provided an apparatus for additive manufacturing comprising a processing circuit comprising a feature identification module for identifying in object model data features of an object to be generated in additive manufacturing that are smaller than a threshold size, and a flux module for determining an area coverage of flux to be applied to build material when generating the object based on a correlation of flux to flexibility of the identified features of the object when generating, wherein the flux module is further for determining a first area coverage of flux to be applied when generating the identified features, and a second area coverage of flux to be applied when generating other features that are larger than the threshold size. According to a third aspect of the present disclosure there is provided an object produced by additive manufacturing comprising flexible features less than a threshold size produced using a first density of flux and features greater than the threshold size produced using a second density of flux. Drawings Non-limiting examples will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a flow chart of one exemplary method of determining the density of a flux to be used in additive manufacturing; FIG. 2 is a flow chart of one example method for generating an object in additive manufacturing; FIG. 3 is a flow chart of one exemplary method of identifying small features of an object to be generated in additive manufacturing; FIG. 4A is a simplified schematic diagram of an example of an object generated in additive manufacturing; fig. 4B is a graph showing an example of forces for inserting and removing a brush into and from an opening; FIG. 5 is a simplified schematic of one example of an apparatus for processing additive manufacturing data; FIG. 6 is a simplified schematic of an exemplary apparatus for additive manufacturing, and FIG. 7 is a simplified schematic diagram of one exemplary machine-readable medium associated with a processor. Detailed Description Additive manufacturing techniques can generate three-dimensional objects by solidification of build material. In some examples, the build material is a powdered particulate material, which may be, for example, a plastic, ceramic, or metal powder, and the nature of the object generated may depend on the type of build material and the type of curing mechanism used. Build material may be deposited on, for example, a print bed and processed layer by layer, for example, within a fabrication chamber. According to one example, a suitable build material may be a PA12 build material commercially known as V1R10A "HP PA12" available from HP (hewlett packard). In some examples, selective curing is achieved by directional application of energy, for example using a laser or an electron beam that, upon application of directional energy, results in curing of the build material. In other examples, at least one printing agent may be selectively applied to the build material and may be a liquid when applied. For example, a flux (also referred to as a "coalescing agent" or "coalescing agent") may be selectively distributed over portions of the layer of build material in a pattern derived from data representing a slice of the three-dimensional object to be generated (which may be determined, for example, from structural design data). The flux may have a composition that absorbs energy such that when energy (e.g., heat) is applied to the layer, the build material to which it has been applied is heated, coalesced, and solidified upon cooling to form a s