Method for Producing a Three-Dimensional Object

The present invention relates to a method for producing a three-dimensional object wherein the object is generated by successive solidification of individual layers of a liquid or powdery, hardenable material by action of electromagnetic radiation.

Such a method is known from the disclosure in EP 0 171 069 A. With such a method a good surface can be obtained but a problem arises in that maintaining the dimension of the object is not ensured due to the deformation of the individual layers because of shrinkage of the material. In addition, the production time is long.

In order to reduce the deformations, it is known from the disclosure in EP 0 362 982 A either to solidify individual strips that are connected with adjacent and underlying strips only via a support construction or to solidify the layer only in regions wherein gaps between the regions result in the object. In both cases a high quality of the surface cannot be obtained.

It is an object of the invention to improve a method for making three-dimensional objects by successive solidification of individual layers such that a small deformation of the object simultaneously with a high quality of the surface is obtained. Furthermore, the accuracy of the surface should be increased and the consumption of material and the production time should be reduced.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by a method having the features that each layer is separated into an inner core region and an outer shell region and that the action of the radiation is controlled differently in the core region than in the shell region for generating different properties of both regions. Further embodiments of the invention are characterized in that:

i. the action of the radiation in the core region is effected such that the deformation of the object is minimal during and after the solidification and that the action of the radiation in the shell region is effected for generating a surface as smooth and accurate as possible;

ii. in the core region, individual partial regions having a distance from each other are solidified and that, if necessary, the gaps between the partial regions are also solidified after solidification of the partial regions of one layer or after solidification of all partial regions of the object;

iii. in the core region, individual strips solidified to be connected with adjacent and underlying strips through a support construction;

iv. first of all, in the core region, partial regions of a layer are solidified and thereby connected with underlying partial regions of the previously solidified layer to multiple-layer cells, that thereafter the partial regions are connected with the adjacent partial regions of the same layer by solidifying narrow connection regions between the partial regions in the form of connecting webs, and that finally the gaps between the partial regions are solidified;

v. the connecting regions are only solidified after a waiting period corresponding to a shrinkage of the partial regions be at least a predetermined size;

vi. the partial regions are formed for generating hollow structures, preferably honey comb structures;

vii. in the shell region closely adjacent partial regions are solidified;

viii. the action of the radiation is effected in the shell region along one or several lines describing the outer boundary of the shell region or being parallel to this boundary;

ix. the layer thickness in the shell region is selected smaller than in the core region;

x. first of all, an integer number N of layers of the shell region are solidified and thereafter a layer of the core region is solidified having a thickness corresponding to N-times the thickness of the N layers of the shell region;

xi. in the shell region, volume elements of the object are defined in one layer wherein the volume elements lie within a predetermined distance from the boundary of the object in this layer;

xii. volume elements in the shell region are defined which are touched or cut by the boundary or the contour of the object in one layer and/or in a predetermined number of preceding and/or following layers of this layer;

xiii. for the shell region, a layer thickness of 0.1 to 5 mm, preferably 0.5 to 2 mm, is selected; and

xiv. in the shell region, openings are formed through which unsolidified material can drain.

FIG. 1 is a graph illustrating a layer divided into a plurality of regions and the contour of an object to be manufactured.

An embodiment of the invention will be described in the following in connection with FIG. 1 showing in a schematic representation a section through a part of the object in a plane of a layer.

The method according to the invention works, for example, according to the method known under the term "stereography" or "stereolithography" as described in the EP-A-0 171 069. According to this method, a layer of a liquid or powdery material is applied on a support or on a layer already solidified and is solidified by means of irradiation with a directed lightbeam, for example a laser, at positions corresponding to the object. By solidifying a plurality of layers the object is constructed layer by layer. For a more detailed description of this method, reference is made to the above-mentioned EP-A-0 171 069, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference.

A partial view of an exemplary layer is depicted in FIG. 1 with reference to which the method according to the invention is first of all described in principle. In FIG. 1, line 1 indicates the contour of the object to be manufactured in the layer. The area of the layer is divided gridwise into a plurality of square or rectangular individual regions or voxels i, j . . . i+6, j+6 having a side length of 0.1 to 5 mm, preferably of 0.5 to 2 mm. data for the spatial coordinates of the contour 1 and of each of the individual regions are available in a computer which controls the irradiation of the layer. In the computer, a comparison of the contour data with the coordinate data of the individual regions is made. If the computer ascertains that an individual region, for example, the individual region i+l, j, lies completely within the contour 1, then this individual region is assigned to a core region 2; if, however, it is ascertained that an individual region, for example, the individual region i, j, is cut by the contour 1, then this individual region is assigned to a shell region 3. Thus, a narrow shell region 3 is determined which extends along the contour line 1 and has an average width corresponding to approximately the side length of the individual regions.

Preferably, the calculation of the core region 2 is carried out exclusively in the computer; thereafter, the shell region 3 is calculated by subtracting the individual regions of the core region 2 from the contour of the entire body. In the calculation of the core region 2, all individual regions lying completely in the inside of the body section, i.e., inside of the contour line 1, are marked.

In particular, the assignment of the individual regions to the shell or to the core is made not only in a two-dimensional manner, as in principle described above, but in a three- dimensional manner in order to obtain a defined thickness of the shell region 3 in all three spatial directions.

In this case, a contour surface corresponds to the contour line 1 and in the calculation of the core region all individual regions lying completely in the inside of this contour surface are marked. Each individual region i, j thereby includes, besides the information about the actual layer, also the corresponding information of the preceding layers. Doing this, only those individual regions are marked as belonging to the core which represent or would represent core regions if they were in a predetermined number of preceding layers as well. The predetermined number depends upon the desired shell thickness and the spatial distance of the individual regions; at a layer thickness of 0.1 mm and a shell thickness of 0.5 mm, for example, this number is 5. The same consideration is valid also for following layers; that is, only those individual regions are counted as belonging to the core which belong or would belong if they were in a predetermined number of succeeding layers to the core, as well.

After the assignment of all individual regions of a layer to the shell region or to the core region, the solidification is effected by irradiating the layer within the individual regions at the positions corresponding to the object. This irradiation is carried out in a different manner depending on whether the individual region is in the core region or in the shell region. Since, in the core region 2 (as compared to the narrow shell region 3), a small distortion, a small consumption of material and short building times are important, the individual regions in that region are not irradiated or solidified over the entire layer, but are irradiated or solidified in the form of single cells being connected to each other either by narrow webs or preferably not being connected at all, but separated by separating joints. Alternatively, it is possible to solidify the individual regions in the core region 2 only along closed lines, so as to produce hollow structures, for example, like honey comb structures, in which liquid or powdery material still is enclosed and which, after the initial solidification of the object, is either drained off or solidified by means of after-hardening. This method is particularly suitable for avoiding thermal expansions, for example, in case of melt-out molds and, in addition, it is suitable for the direct production of molds. In this case, the inverted shape of the object is put in an enveloping cuboid. It results a negative shape for which a separation in shell and core is carried out in the above-described manner.

In the core region 2, the irradiation is effected such that a high degree of polymerization and, thereby, a high stability with small tendency to distortion is achieved.

In the shell region 3, a high accuracy and quality of the surface at the contour 1 is important. For achieving this, the irradiation or solidification in the shell region 3 is carried out over each entire individual region within the shell region either in the form of adjacent hatch lines or in the form of one or several adjacent contour lines, i.e., of groups of lines following the contour 1, for example, as a polygonal line (see FIG. 1). A combination of these line types in one layer or in layers lying on top of each other is also possible.

The irradiation in the core region 2 and in the shell region 3 of an individual layer can be effected simultaneously or also consecutively by a corresponding controlling by using a single or several light beams or laser beams, wherein the layer thickness in the core region 2 is the same as the layer thickness in the shell region 3. However, it is of a particular advantage to solidify first a number N of layers of the shell region 3, N being an integer. The material in the core region 2 first remains liquid or powdery having a layer thickness corresponding to N-times ›of! the layer thickness of the shell region 3. After the N-th layer of the shell region is solidified, this N-times thick layer of the core region is also solidified by a correspondingly intensive irradiation. Thereby, the time needed for the production of the core and, therefore, for the production of the object can be reduced substantially.

If the core is not completely solidified, it is preferable to provide openings in the shell through which the liquid or powdery material, which remains in the core, can drain after the solidification of the object. This may be carried out, for example, such that, in each n-th layer, perforations of the shell region 3 are provided which are sized so that on one hand the material can flow out and on the other hand the surface quality is not reduced.

The particular advantage of the method described is that a relatively stable shell is produced by the stacked shell regions 3. The stable shell permits production of the core region by means of a technique that minimizes distortion without reducing the stability of the object. For example, only due to this shell is it possible to eliminate the connection webs between the single cells or the hollow structures of the core region. Furthermore, the manufacturing time is reduced substantially due to the fact that, in the core forming the main part of the object volume, the solidification is effected only partially.