Large-size ultra-high-speed powder bed additive manufacturing equipment and methodTechnical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of additive manufacturing, in particular to large-size ultrahigh-speed powder bed additive manufacturing equipment and method.
Background
Additive manufacturing technology has found wide application in a number of fields in recent years, including aerospace, automotive manufacturing, medical devices, and metal machining. Compared with the traditional manufacturing mode, the additive manufacturing technology has higher flexibility and complex shape manufacturing capability, can realize accurate construction of complex geometric shapes, saves materials and processing time, and particularly shows remarkable advantages in small-batch and customized production.
In the manufacturing process of large-size parts, the existing powder bed additive manufacturing equipment often has the problems of heat stress accumulation, uneven molding and the like due to the complex melting and solidification processes of materials, and the quality and the dimensional accuracy of finished products are affected. In addition, most of the optical systems and powder conveying systems in the existing equipment adopt a separation design, and the lack of efficient integration leads to huge equipment volume, complex structure and inconvenient operation and maintenance. Therefore, it is necessary to design a large-sized ultra-high-speed powder bed additive manufacturing apparatus and method, which improves the performance of the powder bed additive manufacturing apparatus in large-sized, high-speed forming.
Disclosure of Invention
Aiming at the problems in the prior art, the invention aims at providing large-size ultrahigh-speed powder bed additive manufacturing equipment, simplifying the equipment structure and improving the operation convenience and maintainability;
The invention provides a large-size ultrahigh-speed powder bed additive manufacturing method, which effectively improves the forming capability of additive manufacturing of large-size parts, improves forming speed and precision, optimizes production efficiency, simultaneously optimizes powder conveying and uniform spreading, and improves the utilization rate of materials.
In order to achieve the above purpose, the invention adopts the following technical scheme:
A large-size ultra-high-speed powder bed additive manufacturing device comprises a frame and a forming system;
The forming system is fixedly connected with the frame and comprises a forming cavity, a translation device and a forming device, a printing platform is arranged in the forming cavity, the translation device is fixedly connected with the forming cavity, and the translation device is used for driving the forming device to transversely move;
The forming device is connected with the translation device and comprises an optical module, a powder spreading module and an energy field auxiliary module, wherein the optical module, the powder spreading module and the energy field auxiliary module are connected to the lower part of the translation device, the optical module is arranged above the energy field auxiliary module, the optical module is provided with an ultrafast laser and a single-shaft rotating mirror, the powder spreading module is arranged on two sides of the energy field auxiliary module, the powder spreading module enables powder to be uniformly spread on a printing platform, the powder is rotated at a high speed through the single-shaft rotating mirror and combined with pulse laser emitted by the ultrafast laser to be selectively turned on/off, the energy field auxiliary module is matched to form a line light spot with a specific shape, the line light spot is translated to finish surface forming, when the forming material is metal powder, the energy field auxiliary module is an air duct for removing metal splash, and when the forming material is ceramic powder, the energy field auxiliary module is a heating pipe for preheating and slow cooling of a ceramic powder bed, so that the cracking risk is reduced.
Further, a frame platform is arranged at the top of the frame, the forming cavity is fixedly arranged on the frame platform, a through hole is formed in the frame platform, the size of the through hole is the same as that of the printing platform, and the frame platform and the printing platform are combined to form a printing plane.
Further, the translation device includes mount, translation motor, the nut seat, the guide rail slider, synchronous pulley, the hold-in range, the lead screw, bearing and adapter, the mount is installed in one side of shaping cavity, translation motor fixed mounting is in the mount, translation motor's below is equipped with the lead screw, translation motor's motor shaft all is provided with synchronous pulley with the one end of lead screw, two synchronous pulleys pass through synchronous belt drive and are connected, the other end of lead screw passes through the bearing and is connected with the nut seat, the nut seat is connected with the mount, be provided with the guide rail slider on the lead screw, one side of guide rail slider is provided with the adapter, the below of guide rail slider is provided with the guide rail, the guide rail slider slides along lead screw extending direction on the guide rail.
Further, the powder paving module is provided with a mounting plate, the top of the mounting plate is fixedly connected with the adapter, and the bottom of the mounting plate is respectively connected with the optical module and the energy field auxiliary module.
Further, the powder paving module comprises a powder storage groove, a powder storage tank, a shaft coupling, a turnover motor, a scraping strip upper support, a scraping strip lower support, a scraping strip clamping plate and a scraping strip, wherein the powder storage groove, the scraping strip upper support and the scraping strip lower support are respectively and symmetrically arranged on two sides of the energy field auxiliary module, the scraping strip upper support is fixedly connected with the mounting plate, the scraping strip lower support is arranged below the scraping strip upper support, the scraping strip clamping plate is fixedly connected with the scraping strip lower support, the scraping strip is arranged on the scraping strip clamping plate, two turnover motors are arranged above the scraping strip upper support and are respectively connected with the powder storage groove through the shaft coupling, and the powder storage tank is fixed in the forming cavity.
The optical module is further provided with a rotating mirror support, the rotating mirror support is fixedly connected with the mounting plate, the single-shaft rotating mirror is connected with the rotating mirror support, the ultra-fast laser is connected with the single-shaft rotating mirror through an optical fiber and is arranged at the top of the forming cavity, the ultra-fast laser emits pulse laser to the single-shaft rotating mirror, the single-shaft rotating mirror rotates at a high speed, and the reflecting surface of the single-shaft rotating mirror forms a laser line track formed by high-frequency points.
Further, two sides of the energy field auxiliary module are provided with air inlets, one side of the air inlets are used for air inlet, the other side of the air inlets are used for air outlet, the mounting plate is fixedly connected with an air inlet support, and the air inlet support is fixedly connected with the energy field auxiliary module.
Further, the forming system is also provided with a forming cylinder and a push rod assembly, the top of the forming cylinder is connected with the frame platform, the push rod assembly is arranged in the forming cylinder, the top of the push rod assembly is fixedly connected with the printing platform, and the push rod assembly is used for adjusting the height of the printing platform.
Further, the push rod assembly comprises an electric push rod, an electric push rod adapter plate, a piston and a push rod motor, wherein the electric push rod adapter plate is arranged at the bottom of the forming cylinder, the electric push rod penetrates through the electric push rod adapter plate to be arranged, the bottom of the electric push rod is connected with the push rod motor, the top of the electric push rod is connected with the piston, and the piston is connected with the printing platform.
Further, the forming chamber is provided with an air inlet for inputting inert gas to discharge oxygen in the forming chamber and an air outlet for discharging oxygen when the forming material is metal powder.
The large-size ultra-high-speed powder bed additive manufacturing method is characterized by comprising the following steps of:
S1, moving a printing platform to a printing plane, and moving a forming device to the lower part of a powder storage tank by a translation device to enable a powder spreading module to store powder;
S2, the translation device drives the forming device to move, so that the forming device moves to the edge of the printing platform, and the powder spreading module rotates, so that powder falls below;
S3, the translation device continues to move, and the powder spreading module spreads the powder on the printing platform uniformly;
S4, the translation device continues to move, when the paved powder is positioned below the energy field auxiliary module, the energy field auxiliary module and the optical module are started, and the optical module emits pulse laser to be matched with the energy field auxiliary module to carry out selective fusion forming on the powder;
S5, the translation device drives the forming device to continuously move, and the cooperative work is kept until the whole surface of the printing platform is printed;
S6, the printing platform descends, the translation device moves reversely, and the steps S1-S7 are circulated until the printing and forming of the large-size sample piece are completed.
In general, the invention has the following advantages:
1. The invention improves the large-size forming capability and optimizes the production efficiency by optimizing the integrated design of the translation device, the optical module, the powder spreading module and the energy field auxiliary module, thereby remarkably improving the forming capability of the equipment in the additive manufacturing of large-size parts. Compared with the traditional equipment, the invention can more efficiently carry out large-size and high-precision forming and improve the overall production efficiency.
2. The invention can improve the forming speed and precision, and meet the high-efficiency manufacturing requirement, and can obviously improve the laser scanning speed while ensuring the forming precision by combining an ultrafast laser and a single-axis rotating mirror. The innovative design ensures that the equipment can still keep high precision in the ultra-high forming process, thereby meeting the requirements of modern manufacturing industry on efficient and large-size additive manufacturing, and being particularly suitable for industries with extremely high precision and efficiency requirements.
3. The invention ensures the uniform spreading of the powder by precisely controlling the powder conveying process through the cooperation of the powder spreading module and the energy field auxiliary module. If metal powder is used, the two air inlets are designed to form an air channel in a blowing and sucking mode, so that the metal powder splashed in the forming process is effectively sucked, material waste is avoided, and forming quality is ensured. If ceramic powder is used, heating strips are additionally arranged in front of the two air openings to preheat the ceramic powder in the printing area, so that the powder flowability and the forming effect are improved, and the utilization rate of materials and the printing quality are further optimized.
4. The invention integrates key modules such as an optical module, a powder spreading module, an energy field auxiliary module and the like through modularized design, and remarkably simplifies the overall structure of the equipment. The design not only improves the integration level and stability of the equipment, but also ensures that the operation of the equipment is simpler and more convenient, reduces the complexity of maintenance and adjustment, reduces the labor intensity of operators, and improves the stability and service life of the equipment.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the apparatus of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a schematic structural view of a forming system.
Fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of the translation device.
Fig. 4 is a schematic structural view of the molding apparatus.
Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of the working principle of the optical module.
In the figure:
1-frame, 2-forming system, 3-optical module, 4-translation device, 5-powder paving module, 6-energy field auxiliary module, 201-forming chamber, 202-forming cylinder, 203-electric push rod, 204-electric push rod adapter plate, 205-piston, 206-printing platform, 207-air inlet, 208-air outlet, 301-ultra-fast laser, 302-rotating mirror bracket, 303-single-shaft rotating mirror, 401-translation motor, 402-nut seat, 403-guide rail, 404-guide rail sliding block, 405-synchronous pulley, 406-synchronous belt, 407-screw rod, 408-bearing, 409-conversion block, 501-powder storage tank, 502-powder storage tank, 503-coupling, 504-turnover motor, 505-upper bracket of scraping strip, 506-lower bracket of scraping strip, 507-scraping strip clamping plate, 508-scraping strip and 509-mounting plate.
Detailed Description
The present invention will be described in further detail below.
As shown in fig. 1, a large-size ultra-high-speed powder bed additive manufacturing device comprises a frame 1 and a forming system 2;
The forming system 2 is fixedly connected with the frame 1, the forming system 2 comprises a forming cavity 201, a translation device 4 and a forming device, a printing platform 206 is arranged in the forming cavity 201, the translation device 4 is fixedly connected with the forming cavity 201, and the translation device 4 is used for driving the forming device to transversely move so as to ensure that a laser beam of the forming device can cover the whole forming area;
The forming device is connected with the translation device 4 and comprises an optical module 3, a powder spreading module 5 and an energy field auxiliary module 6, wherein the optical module 3, the powder spreading module 5 and the energy field auxiliary module 6 are connected to the lower portion of the translation device 4, the optical module 3 is arranged above the energy field auxiliary module 6, the optical module 3 is provided with an ultrafast laser 301 and a single-axis turning mirror 303, the powder spreading module 5 is arranged on two sides of the energy field auxiliary module 6, and the powder spreading module 5 enables powder to be evenly spread on a printing platform 206 so as to ensure the forming quality and stability of printed pieces. The single-axis rotating mirror 303 rotates at a high speed and combines with the high-frequency selective on/off of pulse laser emitted by the ultrafast laser 301 to form a line light spot with a specific shape in cooperation with the energy field auxiliary module 6, the line light spot translates to finish surface forming, the energy field auxiliary module 6 is an air duct for removing metal splash when the forming material is metal powder, and the energy field auxiliary module 6 is a heating pipe for preheating and slow cooling of a ceramic powder bed when the forming material is ceramic powder, so that the cracking risk is reduced.
The top of the frame 1 is provided with a frame platform, the forming chamber 201 is fixedly arranged on the frame platform, the frame platform is provided with a through hole, the size of the through hole is the same as that of the printing platform 206, and the frame platform and the printing platform 206 are combined to form a printing plane.
As shown in fig. 3, the translation device 4 includes a fixing frame, a translation motor 401, a nut seat 402, a guide rail 403, a guide rail slider 404, a synchronous pulley 405, a synchronous belt 406, a screw rod 407, a bearing 408 and an adapter 409, the fixing frame is installed at one side of the forming chamber 201, the translation motor 401 is fixedly installed in the fixing frame, the screw rod 407 is arranged below the translation motor 401, a motor shaft of the translation motor 401 is in driving connection with one end of the screw rod 407 through the synchronous belt 406, the two synchronous pulleys 405 are in driving connection with the nut seat 402 through the bearing 408, the nut seat 402 is connected with the fixing frame, the guide rail slider 404 is arranged on the screw rod 407, the adapter 409 is arranged at one side of the guide rail slider 404, the guide rail 403 is arranged below the guide rail slider 404, and the guide rail slider 404 slides along the extending direction of the screw rod 407 on the guide rail 403. The translation motor 401 drives the optical module 3 to move in a translation mode through the cooperation of the nut seat 402 and the screw rod 407, and the guide rail 403 and the guide rail sliding block 404 form a guide system of the translation device 4, so that the optical module 3 can keep an accurate track in the translation process, and offset is avoided. The matching of the translation device 4 and the optical module 3 enables the adjustment and control of the laser scanning area to be completed efficiently, the forming precision of equipment is greatly improved, and the requirement of large-size and ultra-high-speed additive manufacturing is supported.
As shown in fig. 4, the powder spreading module 5 is provided with a mounting plate 509, the top of the mounting plate 509 is fixedly connected with the adapter 409, and the bottom of the mounting plate 509 is respectively connected with the optical module 3 and the energy field auxiliary module 6.
The powder paving module 5 comprises a powder storage tank 501, a powder storage tank 502, a shaft coupling 503, a turnover motor 504, a scraping strip upper bracket 505, a scraping strip lower bracket 506, a scraping strip clamping plate 507 and a scraping strip 508, wherein the powder storage tank 501, the scraping strip upper bracket 505 and the scraping strip lower bracket 506 are respectively and symmetrically arranged on two sides of the energy field auxiliary module 6, the scraping strip upper bracket 505 is fixedly connected with a mounting plate 509, the scraping strip lower bracket 506 is arranged below the scraping strip upper bracket 505, the scraping strip clamping plate 507 is fixedly connected with the scraping strip lower bracket 506, the scraping strip 508 is arranged on the scraping strip clamping plate 507, two turnover motors 504 are arranged above the scraping strip upper bracket 505 and are respectively connected with the powder storage tank 501 through the shaft coupling 503, and the powder storage tank 502 is fixed in the forming cavity 201 and used for storing powder. The overturning motor 504 drives the powder storage tank 501 to rotate for feeding through the coupler 503, so that the continuity and stability of powder supply are ensured, the scraping strips 508 slide along the surface of the printing platform 206 to uniformly spread the powder on the forming area of each layer, the air flow of the energy field auxiliary module 6 can be uniformly distributed through the design of the air port and the air port support, stable conduction of the air flow is ensured, excessive powder is effectively sucked out and the powder is prevented from scattering in an unnecessary area, the powder spreading module 5, the energy field auxiliary module 6 and the optical module 3 are combined, the uniform spreading of the powder and the synchronous proceeding of a laser curing process are ensured, and the precision and stability of equipment in the additive manufacturing of a large-size and ultra-high-speed powder bed are improved.
As shown in fig. 4 and 5, the optical module 3 is further provided with a turning mirror bracket 302, the ultrafast laser 301 is installed at the top of the forming chamber 201, the ultrafast laser 301 emits an ultrashort pulse laser beam, the laser beam has extremely high energy density and can rapidly melt and solidify powder materials in extremely short time, the turning mirror bracket 302 is fixedly connected with a mounting plate 509, the single-axis turning mirror 303 is connected with the turning mirror bracket 302, the turning mirror bracket 302 is used for fixing and supporting the single-axis turning mirror 303 to ensure stability and accuracy of the single-axis turning mirror 303, the ultrafast laser 301 is connected with the single-axis turning mirror 303 through an optical fiber, the ultrafast laser 301 emits pulse laser to the single-axis turning mirror 303, the single-axis turning mirror 303 rotates at high speed, and a reflecting surface of the single-axis turning mirror 303 forms a laser line track formed by high-frequency points. Because the single-axis turning mirror 303 can reflect the laser beam at different angles, the single-axis turning mirror 303 generally has a plurality of reflecting surfaces, so that the irradiation angle of the laser beam can be quickly changed, and the precision and the range of laser irradiation can be adjusted according to the forming requirements, and the path of the laser beam can be controlled by high-speed rotation, so that the laser beam can be accurately scanned in the forming region. To ensure the accuracy and stability of the scanning, the laser beam is subjected to a translational movement by means of the translation device 4 during the scanning process, so as to cover the entire printing area. The cooperation of the optical module 3 and the translation device 4 enables the laser scanning path to be accurately and uniformly paved on the powder layers, and ensures that the melting and solidification processes of each layer of powder are accurate. Each detail in the laser scanning process can be effectively controlled, and the requirement of large-size and high-precision additive manufacturing is met.
As shown in FIG. 4, two sides of the energy field auxiliary module 6 are provided with air inlets, one side of the air inlets is used for air inlet, the other side of the air inlets is used for air outlet, and the mounting plate 509 is fixedly connected with an air inlet support which is fixedly connected with the energy field auxiliary module 6. For metal powder, two air openings in the energy field auxiliary module 6 adopt a blowing and sucking design, an air channel is formed by utilizing air flow, so that the metal powder in the forming process is quickly sucked and removed to splash, and the powder is prevented from scattering to an unnecessary area, thereby improving the cleanliness of the forming area, reducing the powder waste and ensuring the uniform distribution of the powder in the forming process. When ceramic powder is used, the energy field auxiliary module 6 preheats the ceramic powder by adding heating strips in front of the tuyere. The heating strip can provide proper heat for the ceramic powder, and improve the fluidity and spreadability of the powder, thereby enhancing the forming effect of the ceramic powder. The preheating design ensures that the powder can be uniformly distributed in the spreading process, and effectively avoids the problems of poor adhesion or poor forming quality caused by too low temperature of ceramic powder in the forming process.
As shown in fig. 2, the forming system 2 is further provided with a forming cylinder 202 and a push rod assembly, the top of the forming cylinder 202 is connected with the frame platform, the push rod assembly is installed in the forming cylinder 202, the top of the push rod assembly is fixedly connected with the printing platform 206, and the push rod assembly is used for adjusting the height of the printing platform 206. The push rod assembly comprises an electric push rod 203, an electric push rod adapter plate 204, a piston 205 and a push rod motor, wherein the electric push rod adapter plate 204 is arranged at the bottom of the forming cylinder 202, the electric push rod 203 penetrates through the electric push rod adapter plate 204, the bottom of the electric push rod 203 is connected with the push rod motor, the top of the electric push rod 203 is connected with the piston 205, and the piston 205 is connected with the printing platform 206. By driving the electric push rod 203, the up-and-down movement of the piston 205 can be realized in each layer of printing process, and the stacking height of the powder can be accurately controlled.
The forming chamber 201 is provided with an air inlet 207 and an air outlet 208, wherein when the forming material is metal powder, the air inlet 207 is used for inputting inert gas to discharge oxygen in the forming chamber 201, and the air outlet 208 is used for discharging oxygen to ensure that the temperature and pressure in the forming process are controlled within a desired range.
The large-size ultra-high-speed powder bed additive manufacturing method is characterized by comprising the following steps of:
S1, moving a printing platform 206 to a printing plane, and moving a forming device below a powder storage tank 502 by a translation device 4 to enable a powder spreading module 5 to store powder;
S2, the translation device 4 drives the forming device to move, so that the forming device moves to the edge of the printing platform 206, and the powder spreading module 5 rotates, so that powder falls below;
s3, the translation device 4 continues to move, and the powder spreading module 5 spreads the powder on the printing platform 206 uniformly;
S4, the translation device 4 continues to move, when the paved powder is positioned below the energy field auxiliary module 6, the energy field auxiliary module 6 and the optical module 3 are started, and the optical module 3 emits pulse laser to cooperate with the energy field auxiliary module 6 to selectively melt and shape the powder;
S5, the translation device 4 drives the forming device to continuously move, and the cooperative work is kept until the whole surface of the printing platform 206 is printed;
s6, the printing platform 206 descends, the translation device 4 moves reversely, and the steps S1-S7 are circulated until the printing and forming of the large-size sample piece are completed.
The invention has the main functions that by introducing the highly integrated optical module 3, the powder spreading module 5 and the energy field auxiliary module 6, the efficiency and the precision of the equipment in the large-size part forming process can be effectively improved, the laser scanning precision and the powder distribution uniformity are ensured, and the forming speed and the forming precision of the equipment are greatly improved. In addition, the combination of the ultrafast laser 301 and the single-axis rotating mirror 303 greatly enhances the laser scanning speed, thereby meeting the requirements of high-precision and large-size forming and meeting the requirements of the modern additive manufacturing technology on high-efficiency and precise equipment.
The above examples are preferred embodiments of the present invention, but the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the above examples, and any other changes, modifications, substitutions, combinations, and simplifications that do not depart from the spirit and principle of the present invention should be made in the equivalent manner, and the embodiments are included in the protection scope of the present invention.