METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A THREE-DIMENSIONAL OBJECT

• Main Authors: TAKENAMI, Masataka, MATSUMOTO, Isamu, ABE, Satoshi
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 15.11.2017
• 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

There is provided a selective laser sintering method capable of reducing the trouble in chipping or breakage of the machining tool and the like. The manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention is a method for manufacturing a three-dimensional shaped object by repetition of a powder-layer forming and a solidified-layer forming, the repetition comprising the steps of (i) forming a solidified layer by irradiating a predetermined portion of a powder layer with a light beam, thereby allowing a sintering of the powder in the predetermined portion or a melting and subsequent solidification thereof, and (ii) forming another solidified layer by newly forming a powder layer on the resulting solidified layer, followed by the irradiation of a predetermined portion of the powder layer with the light beam, wherein the method includes at least one step of a surface-machining process for machining a surface of the solidified layer and/or the shaped object by a machining tool at a point in time after the formation of the solidified layer and/or the manufacturing of the shaped object, wherein a suction removal of the powder located around the solidified layer and/or the shaped object is performed by a suction nozzle prior to the surface-machining process, such that the powder is locally removed in consideration of a lowermost machinable level of the machining tool, wherein the suction nozzle during the local removal of the powder is operated under such a condition that a movement path of the suction nozzle is a path along (a) a contour "A" of a cross section of the solidified layer positioned at the lowermost machinable level of the machining tool, (b) a contour "B" of an upper surface of the solidified layer formed most immediately before the suction removal, and (c) a region "C" obtained by subtracting a closed region "B' " from a closed region "A' ", the closed regions "A' " and "B' " being respectively obtained by a planar projection of the contours "A" and "B" with respect to the same plane, the planar projection being provided in a stacking direction of the solidified layers.