Heat treatment to anneal residual stresses during additive manufacturing

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method of producing a product through additive manufacturing with heat treatment. The method involves using a fusing beam to melt powder particles disposed on a substrate. The fused powder particles are then heat treated with a heat treating beam. The heat treatment is thus completed on a given layer prior to laying down additional new layers of material. In one implementation the heat treatment is an annealing operation. The method may further involve providing a new layer of powdered material on top of the layer of fused powder particles subsequent to the heat treatment, and repeating the melting and heat treating operations in a layer-by-layer fashion until the part is completed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of producing a product through additive manufacturing with heat treatment, the method comprising the steps of:
 providing a substrate;   positioning a layer of powder particles on said substrate producing an interface between said layer of powder particles and said substrate;   melting said powder particles with a fusing beam, to fuse said powder particles with said substrate in a desired shape and pattern producing fused powder particles;   heat treating said fused powder particles with a heat treating beam to achieve heat treatment of the product, prior to laying down additional new layers of material;   wherein the heat treatment comprises an annealing on at least one or more portions of one or more intermediate layers of the part;   providing a new layer of powdered material on top of said layer of fused powder particles subsequent to said heat treatment; and   repeating said melting and heat treating operations in a layer-by-layer fashion, until the part is completed.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein heat treating said fused powder particles comprises using a laser to perform the heat treating. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein heat treating said fused powder particles comprises using a diode laser to perform the heat treating. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein heat treating said fused powder particles comprises using a source of electromagnetic radiation to perform the heat treating. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein heat treating said fused powder particles comprises using an electron beam to perform said heat treating. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising performing a laser peening operation on said fused powder particles. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the laser peening operation is performed using an additional laser. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the fusing beam comprises a two dimensional pattern to selectively fuse only specific portions of the layer of powder particles. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the heat treating beam comprises a two dimensional pattern to selectively heat treat only specific portions of the layer of fused powder particles. 
     
     
         10 . A method of producing a product through additive manufacturing with heat treatment, the method comprising the steps of:
 providing a substrate;   positioning a layer of powder particles on said substrate producing an interface between said layer of powder particles and said substrate;   using a laser to melt said powder particles with a laser beam impressed with a two dimensional pattern containing image information from a first layer to be printed in making the product, to fuse said powder particles with said substrate in a desired shape and pattern producing fused powder particles;   heat treating said fused powder particles with an additional laser beam to achieve heat treatment of the product, prior to laying down additional new layers of material; and   wherein the heat treatment comprises an annealing operation.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising providing a new layer of powdered material on top of said layer of fused powder particles subsequent to said heat treatment. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising repeating said melting and heat treating operations in a layer-by-layer fashion, until the part is completed. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein using a laser comprises using a diode laser. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein heat treating said fused powder particles comprises using a diode laser to perform the heat treating using a 2D pattern. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein heat treating said fused powder particles comprises using a source of electromagnetic radiation to perform the heat treating. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein heat treating said fused powder particles comprises using an electron beam to perform the heat treating. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising performing a laser peening operation on said fused powder particles. 
     
     
         18 . A method of producing a product through additive manufacturing with heat treatment, the method comprising the steps of:
 providing a substrate;   positioning a layer of powder particles on said substrate producing an interface between said layer of powder particles and said substrate;   melting said powder particles with a first laser beam to fuse said powder particles with said substrate, and thus producing fused powder particles;   performing an annealing operation with a second laser beam impressed with a two dimensional pattern containing image information, to achieve heat treatment of at least a portion of the first layer of the product in accordance with the two dimensional pattern, prior to laying down additional new layers of material;   providing a new layer of powdered material on top of the first layer of fused powder particles subsequent to the heat treatment; and   repeating said melting and annealing in a layer-by-layer fashion, until the part is completed.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein performing an annealing operation with a second laser beam comprises using at least one of:
 a diode laser;   a source of electromagnetic radiation; or   an electron beam.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the first laser beam impresses the fusing beam with a two dimensional pattern for selectively fusing only selection portions of the powder particles.