Complex Geometry Printing in 3D Manufacturing

A system for 3D printing objects with embedded electrical pathways and components. The system uses pretreatment ink, conductive ink, and fusing ink that is compatible and balanced to allow conductive structures to form within the printed parts. The pretreatment ink contains metal chloride salts that remove dispersing agents from the conductive ink. This allows the conductive particles to sinter together when heated during printing. The conductive ink contains transition metals that absorb light to heat the ink. The fusing ink contains agents that also absorb light and heat the ink.

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Additively manufacturing magnetically enabled parts with customizable magnetic profiles that are not limited by the shape and composition of the part. The system uses magnetically permeable material that can be selectively concentrated in regions to create a bi-material part with unique magnetic properties. The additive manufacturing process allows freedom in design and geometry to create magnetically enabled parts like solenoids, rotors, and stators with unusual shapes and performance.

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3D printing silicone elastomer articles with complex shapes using water-based supports that can be easily removed and recycled. The method involves 3D printing a silicone elastomer with a cross-linkable composition and support with a composition containing nano clay and water. The clay-water support is compatible with the silicone printing material and allows for printing complex shapes. The support can be dissolved and reused after printing.

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Hydraulic valve components are manufactured via additive processes like 3D printing to provide a geometry that fine-tunes their various functions. The components include features like lattices, meshes, asymmetric shapes, undercut apertures, and varying aperture sizes to enhance valve performance compared to conventionally machined components. Additive manufacturing allows the creation of complex customized shapes that optimize flow areas, forces, stability, and metering characteristics.

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A 3D printed filter medium that can be manufactured with complex geometries and porosity to improve filtration efficiency and capacity. The filter is made layer-by-layer using 3D printing techniques with controlled movement patterns to create porous structures optimized for filtering fluids. The layering pattern can vary within the filter to gradually decrease pore size downstream to trap particles better.

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Polishing the inner wall of a 3D-printed metal part with a complex-shaped hollow structure. An electrochemical polishing method is used to overcome the limitations of traditional machining. The process involves printing the metal part with a coaxial cathode inside. After sealing the cavity, the inner wall is electrochemically polished using the cathode. Finally, the cathode is broken to remove it and obtain a polished metal part. This allows uniform polishing of the inner walls of complex-shaped 3D-printed metal parts that cannot be effectively machined.

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Selective electrodeposition and electroetching device and method for additive manufacturing and selective etching of three-dimensional models with complex structures. The device uses a wheel with a layered photoconductive surface that forms an electrode pattern when selectively illuminated. An ionic liquid layer is maintained between the wheel and a conductive platform holding the model. The localized electric field between the illuminated wheel electrodes and platform electrode allows precise selective electrodeposition or etching.

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Creating 3D structures of defined geometries for cell culture and tissue engineering using a dynamically tunable yield stress material. The method involves causing a phase change in a region of the yield stress material using focused energy and then displacing the material in the region with a second material like cells or hydrogel. This allows 3D printing of complex shapes directly in the yield stress material. The advantage is the yield stress material can be temporarily liquefied for printing and then re-solidify to support the structure. This allows the creation of custom 3D cell culture scaffolds without complex 3D printing equipment.

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A method for 3D printing complex-shaped metal or ceramic parts with full density and high mechanical properties. The method involves creating a sacrificial powder mold of the complex shape using a swellable binder. The mold is filled with unsintered powder and subjected to high pressure. After densification, the powder part is sintered to full density, and the sacrificial mold naturally self-destructs during sintering. This allows complex parts to be fabricated without complex tooling or debinding steps.

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Creating complex 3D finite element mesh models of irregular bodies for analysis and fabrication. The method involves slicing a 3D mapping of the body into horizontal layers, creating elements within each slice, and connecting common nodes between adjacent slices. This produces a linked hexahedral element mesh that approximates the complex body geometry.

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3D printing system that improves speed and quality of additive manufacturing by using a technique called "tool path synchronization" where the motion of the printer's stage and the tool's extrusion are precisely coordinated. This avoids issues like ringing and collisions that can degrade print quality at high speeds. The printer has a controller that generates synchronized tool and stage commands based on the 3D model geometry.

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A method for 3D printing items using semi-crystalline polymers like polyethylene that prevents warping and adhesion failures during printing. The method involves selectively cooling and heating the build plate and printed layers to optimize crystallization and melting. This allows the semi-crystalline polymers to adhere to the plate during printing and then solidify for strength. The steps include: 1) depositing the polymer on the plate at a high temperature to melt it and adhere it. 2) cooling the deposited layers below their crystallization temperature. 3) raising the plate temperature to below the polymer's melting point. 4) continuing printing with the higher plate temperature and lower layer temperature to prevent warping and adhesion failures. 5) removing the printed item at room temperature. This sequence enables the semi-crystall

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A method for 3D printing objects using a fused deposition modeling (FDM) printer that allows producing items with high filler content and smooth surfaces. The method involves using a core-shell nozzle with a separate feeder for particulate filler material and a feeder for filament. The filler is fed to the extruder and the filament to the shell of the nozzle. This enables creating a core-shell extrudate during printing with a filler-rich core enclosed by a filament shell. The core-shell extrudate is then deposited layer by layer to form the 3D printed object. The core filler content can be much higher than in conventional FDM printing. The core-shell structure also allows smoother surfaces compared to using fillers in the filament.

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A method for 3D printing objects with support structures that can be easily removed after printing. The method involves printing a lower support layer that contacts the object below and an upper support layer that contacts the object above. The conditions for printing these layers are selected differently from each other. This allows better balance between print accuracy and support structure removability compared to using the same conditions for both layers. By optimizing the conditions for each layer, the lower layer adheres well to the object below while the upper layer peels off easily.

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3D printing technique with support structures that can be easily removed without damaging the printed part. The technique involves creating a weak interface between the support structure and the printed part using a fracturable material like a polymer. This interface allows the support structure to be detached cleanly without damaging the printed part. The fracturable material is added during the printing process by layering it between the support and part. It forms a weak bond at the interface that can be broken when the support is removed.

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A method for planning scanning and filling paths in 3D printing of thin-walled parts with complex shapes that avoids overfilling, underfilling, and poor molding performance. The method generates filling paths that start and end at the part edges instead of internal points. It connects filling lines between adjacent contour points to form closed paths that fill the entire part. This allows starting each layer at once and prevents issues like overfilling and underfilling. The method uses an algorithm to calculate curvatures along the contour and generate filling lines with appropriate offsets based on the curvature values.

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3D printing method for creating items with a core-shell structure. The method involves layer-by-layer 3D printing using a filament with a composite of core and shell materials. The core can contain metal particles or a metal wire, while the shell contains wood particles. This allows making 3D printed items with a core-shell configuration, like metal-encased wood, that have specific weight and properties. The core-shell structure can also be reversed with an inorganic shell around a wood core. The core-shell printing allows creating functional items like lighting components with customized properties and aesthetics.

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Additive manufacturing method and system for creating objects with internal pillars surrounded by voids. The method involves using computer data to direct inkjet printing of layers with concave shapes representing the pillars. These shapes are superimposed on the layer data to create a periodic array of pillars. The voids between the pillars are left empty. This allows fabricating objects with reduced material usage, as the voids contain air instead of building material. The pillar shapes and distribution can be optimized to provide desired mechanical properties of the final object.

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Efficient encoding of 3D printing build data for additive manufacturing that reduces memory and processing requirements compared to voxel-based representation. The method involves processing the 3D model to extract boundary intersection points for rays instead of voxelizing the entire model. This pre-computed ray-based build data is used during printing to determine material deposition at each layer based on the ray height. It enables faster and more memory-efficient printing of complex objects with many material transitions.

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Using controlled crystallization in Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D printing to improve support structure removal. The method involves printing supports with an interface layer that crystallizes when deposited. This layer touches the printed object and has a higher crystallinity than the object's surface. During printing, the object's surface melts when new layers are deposited, but the crystallized interface layer doesn't remelt. This allows the supports to be easily removed after printing without damaging the object. The higher crystallinity of the interface layer is achieved by keeping the deposited traces in the crystallization temperature range for an appropriate time.

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