Method of manufacturing a three-dimensional object

US11780160B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC · US

Inventors

• Anil K. Sachdev · Rochester Hills, US
• Frederick E. Pinkerton · Shelby Charter Township, US
• Raja K. Mishra · Shelby Charter Township, US
• Tyson W. Brown · Royal Oak, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 3, 2021
• Grant date: Oct 10, 2023
• Expiry date: Jul 12, 2041

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02P10/25
• WIPO field: Materials, metallurgy
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

A three-dimensional object may be manufactured using a powder bed fusion additive manufacturing technique. A layer of powder feed material may be distributed over a solid substrate and scanned with a high-energy laser beam to locally melt selective regions of the layer and form a pool of molten feed material. The pool of molten feed material may be exposed to gaseous nitrogen, carbon, or boron to respectively dissolve nitride, carbide, or boride ions into the pool of molten feed material to produce a molten nitrogen, carbon, or boron-containing solution. The molten nitrogen, carbon, or boron-containing solution may cool and solidify into a solid layer of fused nitride, carbide, or boride-containing material.