Photonic fusing

Abstract

Example described herein include a three-dimensional printer a three-dimensional printing device that includes a fusible material applicator to apply a layer of fusible material, a inhibiting material applicator to apply a patterned layer of inhibiting material to establish exposed regions of the layer of fusible material and blocked regions of the layer of fusible material based on information corresponding to a three-dimensional model, and a photonic energy emitter to apply photonic energy to fuse the exposed regions of the layer of fusible material.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A three-dimensional printing device comprising:
 a fusible material applicator to apply a layer of a first fusible material;   an inhibiting material applicator to apply a patterned layer of inhibiting material to establish exposed regions of the layer of the first fusible material and blocked regions of the layer of the first fusible material based on information corresponding to a three-dimensional model;   a photonic energy emitter to apply photonic energy to fuse at least some of the exposed regions of the layer of the first fusible material simultaneously, wherein the photonic energy emitter comprises a xenon source;   a processor communicatively coupled to the fusible material applicator, the inhibiting material applicator, and the photonic energy emitter to control operation of the fusible material applicator, the inhibiting material applicator and the photonic energy emitter; and   a non-transitory computer readable medium coupled to the processor, wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
 control the inhibiting material applicator to apply the patterned layer of inhibiting material in a pattern comprising a negative of a desired layer to be fused in a particular layer of the three-dimensional model; and 
 control the photonic energy emitter to emit the photonic energy, wherein in a pulse of the photonic energy emitter delivers the photonic energy across the surface of the inhibiting material and the exposed regions of the layer of the first fusible material. 
   
     
     
         2 . The three-dimensional printing device of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:
 control the photonic energy emitter to emit a first pulse of the plurality of pulses to remove unwanted impurities from the exposed regions of the layer of the first fusible material and to emit subsequent pulses of the plurality of pulses to heat the exposed regions of the layer of the first fusible material.   
     
     
         3 . The three-dimensional printing device of  claim 1 , wherein the inhibiting material applicator comprises an inkjet. 
     
     
         4 . The three-dimensional printing device of  claim 1 , wherein the inhibiting material comprises a reflective ink, an interference filter, a heat absorptive material that vaporizes, or a thermal insulator. 
     
     
         5 . The three-dimensional printing device of  claim 1 , wherein the photonic energy emitter applies the photonic energy comprising a spectral range between 0.2 micron and 1.5 micron. 
     
     
         6 . The three-dimensional printing device of  claim 1 , wherein the photonic energy emitter emits electromagnetic radiation in a spectral range between 150 nanometers (nm) and 1100 nm with radiation peaks in a visible range. 
     
     
         7 . The three-dimensional printing device of  claim 6 , wherein the radiation peaks are below 1 micron. 
     
     
         8 . The three-dimensional printing device of  claim 1 , wherein the first fusible material comprises a first metal and the photonic energy emitter is to melt the first metal. 
     
     
         9 . The three-dimensional printing device of  claim 8 , wherein the fusible material applicator is to apply a layer of a second fusible material on top of the layer of the first fusible material, wherein the second fusible material comprises a second metal that is different from the first metal. 
     
     
         10 . The three-dimensional printing device of  claim 9 , wherein the photonic energy emitter is to melt the first metal and the second metal to form an alloy of the first metal and the second metal. 
     
     
         11 . The three-dimensional printing device of  claim 10 , wherein the patterned layer of inhibiting material is applied between the layer of the first fusible material and the layer of the second fusible material to prevent portions of the layer of the first fusible material portions of the layer of the second fusible material from melting to form the alloy when exposed to the photonic energy. 
     
     
         12 . The three-dimensional printing device of  claim 1 , wherein the inhibiting material comprises a material that reflects the photonic energy or absorbs the photonic energy within a spectral range emitted by the photonic energy emitter. 
     
     
         13 . The three-dimensional printing device of  claim 1 , wherein the inhibiting material comprises a white ink that includes reflective additives. 
     
     
         14 . The three-dimensional printing device of  claim 13 , wherein the reflective additives comprises titanium oxide. 
     
     
         15 . A method of forming a three-dimensional object comprising:
 for each data layer in a sequence of data layers of a data model of the three-dimensional object:   applying a layer of fusible material to a substrate or a previously formed layer of fusible material;   applying a patterned layer of inhibiting material to the layer of fusible material based on the data layer to defined blocked regions of the layer of fusible material and exposed regions of the layer of fusible material; and   exposing the patterned layer of inhibiting material and the exposed regions of the layer of fusible material to non-coherent photonic energy to fuse at least some of the exposed regions of the layer of fusible material simultaneously.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein applying the layer of fusible material comprises laying down a layer of powdered material. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the non-coherent photonic energy comprises a plurality of pulses. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the patterned layer of inhibiting material comprises a negative image corresponding to the data layer. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein exposing the patterned layer of fusible material to photonic energy fuses the fused regions of the layer of fusible material to the substrate or the previously formed layer of fusible material. 
     
     
         20 . An apparatus, comprising:
 a processor; and   a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
 control a fusible material applicator to apply a layer of a first fusible material; 
 control an inhibiting material applicator to apply a patterned layer of inhibiting material in a pattern to establish exposed regions of the layer of the first fusible material and blocked regions of the layer of the first fusible material based on information corresponding to a three-dimensional model, wherein the pattern comprises a negative of a desired layer to be fused in a particular layer of the three-dimensional model; and 
 control a xenon source to emit a pulse of photonic energy, wherein the pulse of photonic energy delivers photonic energy across the surface of the inhibiting material and the exposed regions of the layer of a first fusible material to fuse at least some of the exposed regions of the layer of the first fusible material.