APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING A THREE-DIMENSIONAL WORK PIECE WITH IMPROVED GAS FLOW

• Main Authors: HUEBINGER, ISABELL, WILKES, JAN, IQBAL, NAVEED, GIESER, EDUARD, WIESNER, ANDREAS
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French
• Published: 17.05.2018
• Subjects: AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING; CASTING; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; POWDER METALLURGY; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; TRANSPORTING; WORKING METALLIC POWDER; WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE, IN GENERAL

An apparatus (10) comprises a process chamber (12) accommodating a carrier (14) for receiving a raw material powder. An irradiation device (16) of the apparatus (10) is configured to selectively irradiate electromagnetic or particle radiation onto the raw material powder on the carrier (14) in order to produce a work piece by an additive layer construction method, wherein a transmission element (22) allows the transmission of the electromagnetic or particle radiation into the process chamber (12). The apparatus (10) further comprises a gas inlet (26) and a gas outlet (32) for supplying and discharging gas to and from the process chamber (12) which are configured to generate a protective gas stream (Fl, F2) for protecting the transmission element (22) from being contaminated by impurities present in the process chamber (12). The gas inlet (26) comprises a gas permeable, porous component (36) forming a gas inlet area (A).