Pore Prevention in 3D Printing

A method for smoothing the rough surfaces of 3D printed parts without removing material or damaging delicate features. The method involves treating the part's surface in a sealed container filled with a solvent. Vapor from the solvent condenses on the part to smooth the surface. The container is kept at a temperature to generate vapor, then a valve is opened to let vapor into the container. This cools the part enough for condensation. The valve is closed to trap the vapor inside. Vacuum is applied to remove excess solvent. This cycle is repeated multiple times to build up condensation and smooth the part.

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A solvent treatment method for improving the surface quality of 3D printed thermoplastic elastomers like TPU, TPE, and TPEE. The method involves immersing the printed part in a solvent with lower viscosity and boiling point than the part's melting point. The solvent dissolves the microscopic protrusions preferentially, causing them to flow downward and fill in the valleys. After solidification, the part has a smoother, more uniform surface. The solvent volatility and interaction with the elastomer allows selective dissolution for improved surface finish.

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Three-dimensional printer systems and methods enable stronger, faster, and more reliable 3D printing of composite parts. The systems involve using continuous core reinforced filaments that are pre-impregnated and void-free. Compared to stranded filaments, the continuous core enables improved threading and prevents clogging. The void-free impregnation improves strength and eliminates weak spots. Other features include cutting mechanisms to avoid overruns, enlarged nozzle outlets to prevent clogs, and compression-based extrusion for convex shapes.

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A loading system for 3D printers that reduces mounding and increases the uniformity of powder layers. The system has a loading chamber positioned over the supply container. Powder is dispensed into the chamber and compacted to increase uniformity. The chamber floor is then lowered into the supply container, transferring the compacted powder. This loading process helps distribute the powder more evenly throughout the container than directly filling it.

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Method for manufacturing a 3D printed object with improved accuracy and speed. The method involves determining the optimal line width to avoid gaps between extruded layers. It does this by considering the distance between the walls of previously printed layers or the object outline to set the line width for each path. This prevents overfilling or underfilling gaps. Generating path data with appropriate line widths avoids needing post-processing to fill gaps.

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A scanning strategy for additive manufacturing to improve the quality of 3D printed parts by avoiding linear defects. The strategy involves scanning vectors parallel within an irradiation stripe but with different lengths and/or start/end points. This prevents defects from forming in straight lines between the scan paths. For example, using scanning vectors of varying lengths within each stripe instead of fixed length vectors.

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A method to smooth the surfaces of 3D printed objects without using hazardous chemicals or complex hardware. The method involves applying a solvent like alcohol to the cured 3D printed object, then using a localized heat source to apply heat to the object. This process softens the surface of the 3D printed object, allowing the solvent to flow and smooth out the roughness. The heat then hardens the smoothed surface. This avoids issues like holes or cracks that can result from other smoothing techniques.

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A three-dimensional printing method that reduces gaps between layers of printed material to improve the surface finish of objects. The method involves analyzing printing paths to identify gaps between paths. Then, in reshaping data for further layers, the material width is increased specifically in areas with gaps between paths. This fills in the gaps and smooths the surface. By detecting areas where the material is not fully joining due to insufficient overlap, it selectively increases material width in those regions to improve layer adhesion and reduce gaps between adjacent paths.

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Three-dimensional printing uses a filament that is a void-free composite of a core and matrix material. The filament is heated and extruded to form printed parts. The core is multistrand, solid, or segmented. The matrix material impregnates the core. The composite filament has good strength without voids or bubbles. The extrusion nozzle is a conduit without a constriction to prevent clogs. The printer has an integrated cutting mechanism to avoid overruns. The filament composition and printing process improve strength and reliability compared to regular filaments.

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A three-dimensional printing method prevents gaps between adjacent parts. The method involves adjusting the amount of material extruded when printing sections adjacent to previously printed sections. When a new section is adjacent to a gap in the existing structure, less material is extruded to avoid overfilling. When the new section will bridge a gap, more material is extruded to ensure complete coverage. The method prevents gaps by tuning the extrusion amounts based on adjacent geometry, and produces smooth, continuous 3D-printed objects.

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Reducing surface roughness of 3D printed objects by treating them with solvent vapor to improve their surface finish. The method involves condensing solvent vapor onto the outer surface of the 3D printed object. This causes the solvent to penetrate into the pores and dissolve a portion of the printed material. By controlling parameters like temperature, pressure, solvent flow, and exposure time, the surface roughness can be tailored to a range of 0.5-4 microns. This improves the surface finish compared to the typical roughness of over 5 microns for 3D printed objects.

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Three-dimensional printing system that prints structures using a substantially void-free pre-impregnated (prepreg) material or that is capable of forming a substantially void-free material for use in the deposition process. This can improve the strength and quality of 3D printed parts compared to standard filament. The void-free material is produced by impregnating a reinforcing core with a thermoplastic matrix, such as resin, to form a continuous fiber filament. The core can be multiple strands, a solid rod, or segmented. The filament is extruded through a nozzle and deposited to build the 3D part. The smooth, continuous, void-free filament produces stronger parts than standard filament. The printer also has features like heated nozzles, cutting mechanisms, and wider internal passages to prevent clogs and enable reliable printing with continuous filament.

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A 3D printing technique for creating void-free high-strength composite parts using a continuous fiber-reinforced filament with a pre-impregnated thermoplastic core. The filament has a continuous fiber core impregnated with a thermoplastic matrix that is fully cured and void-free. This allows high-strength parts to be printed with continuous fiber reinforcement while avoiding voids and weak spots. The filament is extruded through a specialized nozzle that cuts and seals the core material upstream to prevent voids during printing. By printing with void-free pre-impregnated filament, the resulting composite parts have higher strength and durability compared to typical 3D printing materials.

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Preparing low-porosity 3D printed products with reduced voids and improved strength compared to traditional 3D printed parts. The method involves using a composite material with a skin-core structure that has a lower melting point skin layer and higher melting point core layer. The skin layer melts and fills in the porosity of the printed product during cooling, reducing voids and improving strength. The skin-core material is prepared by extruding both layers through a single nozzle or by coextruding the layers through separate nozzles.

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Real-time detection of off specification voids in additive manufactured items like chopped fiber filled composites. The system uses multiple cameras with hardware feature detection and triangulation to create a 3D representation of the material deposition. Electronic void detectors can then analyze the 3D representation to detect voids.

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A 3D printing method using a filament with a continuous core impregnated with resin that reduces voids for stronger printed parts. The filament has a continuous multifilament core surrounded by resin. This pre-impregnated core filament, or a filament with a wetted solid core, is extruded to print parts. The heated core melts the surrounding resin to form the printed structure. The continuous core prevents voids that weaken parts. A cutting mechanism before the nozzle enables threading cut filaments for uninterrupted printing. The printing nozzle is wider at the outlet than inlet to avoid clogs.

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Three dimensional printing system that prints structures using a substantially void-free preimpregnated (prepreg) material, or that is capable of forming a substantially void free material for use in the deposition process. The prepreg material is a continuous reinforced filament in which the matrix material is fully impregnated into the fiber core, resulting in a rigid, low-friction, substantially void free filament.

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A method to improve the properties of 3D printed parts by post-processing them with resin impregnation and heat treatment. The method involves 3D printing a part using a thermoset resin, then impregnating it with a thermoset resin liquid and curing it to reinforce the part. This addresses the issues of micropores and directional dependencies in 3D printed thermoplastics by using a thermoset resin in the initial printing and then reinforcing it. The thermoset impregnation also allows correcting any defects in the initial 3D print.

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Method for post-processing 3D printed parts to improve surface finish and mechanical properties. The method involves using porous beads containing a solvent adsorbed in a specific pore size and surface area range. The beads are injected at high pressure onto the printed part surface. The beads impact and splash solvent onto the surface, reflowing it to smooth it. The solvent retained in the beads prevents volatile loss during impact. Controlling bead size, solvent adsorption, and injection pressure optimizes reflow and strength improvement.

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A three-dimensional printing technique that uses a substantially void-free fiber-reinforced filament to improve the strength and quality of printed parts. The filament has a reinforced core impregnated with a matrix material. It extrudes this filament through a heated nozzle to deposit layers and build a printed object. The filament with core reinforcement and impregnation prevents voids and improves bonding between layers. The nozzle design matches velocities to prevent clogs and enable cutting.

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