Additive manufacturing using metals from the gaseous state

{
  "publication_number": "US9587309B1",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B1",
  "title": "Additive manufacturing using metals from the gaseous state",
  "abstract": "A method of producing a 3-dimensional (“3-D”) product from metals in the gaseous state includes the steps of providing a substrate of 3-D shape; providing a flow of a gaseous chemical compound(s) around the 3-D substrate, wherein the gaseous chemical compound(s) comprises a metal carbonyl gas; selectively heating the 3-D substrate to decompose the metal carbonyl gasses, wherein metal separated as a result of the decomposition is deposited on the 3-D substrate; selectively controlling the flow rate of one or more metal carbonyl gasses and the temporal and spatial temperature distribution throughout the 3-D substrate to achieve a desired thickness distribution of the metal or metals on the 3-D substrate; and removing the 3-D substrate to produce a resulting 3-D metal product with an complex geometry.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A method of producing a 3-dimensional (“3-D”) product from metals in the gaseous state, the method comprising the steps of: providing a substrate of 3-D shape; providing a flow of a gaseous chemical compound around the 3-D substrate, wherein the gaseous chemical compound comprises a metal carbonyl gas; selectively heating/cooling regions of the 3-D substrate to decompose the metal carbonyl gas, wherein metal separated as a result of the decomposition of the metal is deposited on the 3-D substrate; controlling a flow rate of the metal carbonyl gas and the temperature distribution of the 3-D substrate to achieve a desired spatial thickness distribution of the metal on the 3-D substrate; and removing the 3-D substrate to produce a resulting 3-D metal product, wherein the 3-D substrate comprises a plastic or polymer 3-D substrate, and wherein the plastic or polymer 3-D substrate is removed by melting, dissolving or burning to produce the resultant 3-D metal product.",
    "2. The method of claim 1, wherein the metal in the metal carbonyl gas comprises nickel or iron.",
    "3. The method of claim 1, wherein the 3-D substrate is selectively heated/cooled to temporally and spatially varying temperatures that are less than the melting point of the metal included in the metal carbonyl gas molecular constituents.",
    "4. The method of claim 1, wherein the flow rate, pressure and temperature of the metal carbonyl gas and the temporally and spatially varying temperature distribution of the 3-D substrate are controlled by a CAD/CAM file.",
    "5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of adding doping gases to the metal carbonyl gas to improve mechanical and/or physical properties of the deposited metal.",
    "6. The method of claim 5, wherein the doping gases include boron, silicon, nitrogen and/or carbon as molecular constituents.",
    "7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of adding elements to the metal carbonyl gas to provide corrosion and/or wear resistance for the deposited metal.",
    "8. The method of claim 1, wherein the 3-D substrate includes particles selectively disbursed therein to selectively control the thermal conductive properties throughout the 3-D substrate.",
    "9. The method of claim 1, wherein the 3-D substrate includes one or more phase-change materials selectively embedded therein to selectively control the thermal conductive properties and temperature distribution throughout the 3-D substrate.",
    "10. The method of claim 1, wherein the 3-D substrate includes at least one embedded resistant heater or hot plate to selectively control the spatial and temporal temperature distribution throughout the 3-D substrate.",
    "11. A method of producing a 3-dimensional (“3-D”) product from metals in the gaseous state, the method comprising the steps of: providing a substrate of 3-D shape; providing a flow of a gaseous chemical compound around the 3-D substrate, wherein the gaseous chemical compound comprises a metal carbonyl gas; selectively heating/cooling regions of the 3-D substrate to decompose the metal carbonyl gas, wherein metal separated as a result of the decomposition of the metal is deposited on the 3-D substrate; and controlling a flow rate of the metal carbonyl gas and the temperature distribution of the 3-D substrate to achieve a desired spatial thickness distribution of the metal on the 3-D substrate, wherein the 3-D substrate comprises a plastic or polymer 3-D substrate formed from an additive manufacturing process.",
    "12. A method of producing a 3-dimensional (“3-D”) product from metals in the gaseous state, the method comprising the steps of: providing a substrate of 3-D shape; providing a flow of a gaseous chemical compound around the 3-D substrate, wherein the gaseous chemical compound comprises a metal carbonyl gas; selectively heating/cooling regions of the 3-D substrate to decompose the metal carbonyl gas, wherein metal separated as a result of the decomposition of the metal is deposited on the 3-D substrate; and controlling a flow rate of the metal carbonyl gas and the temperature distribution of the 3-D substrate to achieve a desired spatial thickness distribution of the metal on the 3-D substrate, wherein the 3-D substrate includes at least one passageway formed therein, the at least one passageway receiving at least one heating/cooling fluid to selectively heat/cool regions of the 3-D substrate and selectively control the deposition rate of the metal throughout the surface of the 3-D substrate.",
    "13. A method of producing a 3-dimensional (“3-D”) product from metals in the gaseous state, the method comprising the steps of: providing a substrate of 3-D shape; providing a flow of a gaseous chemical compound around the 3-D substrate, wherein the gaseous chemical compound comprises a metal carbonyl gas; selectively heating/cooling regions of the 3-D substrate to decompose the metal carbonyl gas, wherein metal separated as a result of the decomposition of the metal is deposited on the 3-D substrate; and controlling a flow rate of the metal carbonyl gas and the temperature distribution of the 3-D substrate to achieve a desired spatial thickness distribution of the metal on the 3-D substrate, wherein the 3-D substrate includes a plurality of passageways formed therein, the plurality of passageways receiving a heating/cooling fluid heated to a temporally and spatially varying temperature to selectively heat/cool regions of the 3-D substrate and selectively control the deposition of the metal throughout the surface of the 3-D substrate.",
    "14. The method of claim 13, wherein the select temperature of the heating/cooling fluid in the plurality of passageways is different in each passageway and over time to achieve different thicknesses of the metal deposited on the 3-D substrate.",
    "15. The method of claim 13, wherein different heating fluids are provided in the plurality of passageways.",
    "16. A method of producing a 3-dimensional (“3-D”) product from metals in the gaseous state, the method comprising the steps of: providing a substrate of 3-D shape; providing a flow of a gaseous chemical compound around the 3-D substrate, wherein the gaseous chemical compound comprises a metal carbonyl gas; selectively heating/cooling the 3-D substrate to selectively decompose the metal carbonyl gas, wherein metal separated as a result of the decomposition is selectively deposited on the 3-D substrate, wherein different regions of the 3-D substrate are temporally heated/cooled to different temperatures such that the metal is deposited in different thickness on the different regions of the 3-D substrate and/or previously deposited material; selectively controlling a flow rate and pressure of the metal carbonyl gas and the temperature distribution within the 3-D substrate to achieve a desired spatially varying thickness of the metal on the 3-D substrate; and removing the 3-D substrate to produce a resulting 3-D metal product.",
    "17. The method of claim 16, wherein the 3-D substrate includes a plurality of passageways formed therein, the plurality of passageways receiving at least one heating/cooling fluid heated to a select temporal temperature or temperatures to selectively heat/cool regions of the 3-D substrate and selectively control the deposition of the metal on the 3-D substrate.",
    "18. The method of claim 16, wherein the 3-D substrate includes particles selectively disbursed therein to selectively control the thermal conductive properties throughout the 3-D substrate.",
    "19. The method of claim 16, wherein different metals are deposited in a through-thickness direction at selected regions throughout the resulting 3-D metal product."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present invention is directed toward additive manufacturing processes in general and, more particularly, toward the additive manufacturing of 3-dimensional (“3-D”) products from metals and other materials added from the gaseous state.\n\nAdditive manufacturing (“AM”) is a technology by which 3-dimensional (“3-D”) geometrically complex parts can be designed on a computer, and data protocols are used to produce the near-net 3-D shaped part directly from a computer-aided design (“CAD”) or computer-aided manufacturing (“CAM”) file. In most common AM processes, material is built up by melting or otherwise building up successive layers of material in different shapes to form a resultant 3-D product. Additive manufacturing, also known as “3-D printing”, is considered distinct from traditional machining techniques, which mostly rely on the removal of material by methods such as machining, filing, turning, milling, grinding, cutting, drilling, etc. In these traditional machining techniques, a base product is formed, and then material is removed therefrom by various known methods to form the resultant 3-D product. Such traditional manufacturing processes that rely on the removal of material are often referred to as “subtractive manufacturing” processes.\n\nAdditive manufacturing takes virtual blueprints from CAD/CAM files or animation modeling software and slices them into digital cross-sections for the AM machine to successively use as a guideline for printing.",
  "cpc": [
    "C23C 16/4418",
    "C23C 16/01",
    "C23C 16/16",
    "C23C 16/46",
    "C23C 16/52"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "C23C 16/01",
    "C23C 16/16",
    "C23C 16/44",
    "C23C 16/52"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Concurrent Technologies Corp"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Joseph R. Pickens",
    "Juan Valencia",
    "Michael L. Tims"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2014-03-17",
  "publication_date": "2017-03-07",
  "grant_date": "2017-03-07",
  "priority_date": "2013-03-15",
  "application_number": "US-201414215694-A",
  "family_id": "58162176",
  "cited_by_count": 14,
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}