CN106182772B - Multiple material rapid prototyping molding machine and method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a multi-material rapid prototyping device and method, belonging to the technical field of rapid prototyping. The invention aims to solve the problems of single product material, limited molding shape and low molding precision in the existing rapid prototyping technology. The device includes a frame, a feeding drive, a feeding head, a silo, a recovery chamber, a guide rail, a residual material removal machine, a scraper, a molding chamber, a light source, a light guide system, an imaging system and a controller; the center of the frame The forming cavity is set in the area, and one end of the frame is close to the frame to set the feeding drive machine, the output end of the feeding drive machine is connected to the feeding head, and the other end of the frame is close to the frame to set the guide rail in a direction parallel to the frame, and the residual material is connected to the guide rail Cleaning machine, the other end of the frame is also equipped with a leveling machine on the peripheral frame of the molding cavity; the method can realize the rapid prototyping of the final product composed of various materials through selective sintering, solidification and gasification and their combination. The invention is useful for rapid prototyping of a variety of materials.

Description

Multi-material rapid prototyping device and method

technical field

The invention relates to a rapid prototyping device and method for various materials, and belongs to the technical field of rapid prototyping.

Background technique

Rapid prototyping processes are well known, such as the use of known layered manufacturing techniques in which a number of layers sequentially built up one after the other gradually form an article, such as a metal mold, a prototype, or the like. A variant of this method is called the SLA system, for example, the Chinese patent "Digital Projection Light Curing Rapid Prototyping Device and Method", the publication number is CN 1850494A; and the Chinese patent "Rapid Prototyping Method Using Projection Technology", The publication number is CN100391721C; they use a computer-controlled focused UV laser to scan the liquid surface of a photopolymerizable liquid polymer, such as a photosensitive resin, to selectively polymerize the polymer to form a first solid polymer layer. This layer of solid polymer then sinks into the polymer pool so that a new layer of liquid polymer covers the solid layer. The laser polymerization process is used again to produce the second solid polymer layer, and so on, until the desired article is formed from multiple superimposed solid polymer layers.

Another variant of the layered manufacturing technique is known as the Selective Laser Sintering SLS process, in which a computer-controlled laser beam sinters selected areas of a composite layer of loosely compacted powders, such as plastics, metals, ceramics, waxes, etc. layer by layer , until the entire product is fully constructed. The Chinese patent "A Rapid Prototyping System for Directly Manufacturing Metal Parts" with the publication number CN1205951C believes that if the metal powder is completely melted during the above manufacturing process, this method should be distinguished from ordinary laser sintering, which is called selective laser sintering Melting SLM; it is also called direct metal laser sintering in the literature——Direct metallaser sintering, DMLS; here, no distinction is made between SLS and SLM, both are called selective laser sintering.

Another variant of layered manufacturing is called three-dimensional printing rapid modeling - Three Dimensional Printing, 3DP technology, also known as three-dimensional spray bonding, which is realized by computer-controlled inkjet printing equipment, such as continuous jet or press There are two specific implementation forms of drop-type printing equipment: in the first mode, the equipment sprays the adhesive flow from one or more nozzles to the selected area of the first layer of loose particles according to the pattern specified by the computer. A second layer of loose particles is then placed on top of the first layer while the inkjet machine selectively ejects a stream of adhesive onto the second layer of particles following the shape of the first layer. After heating or drying to cure the adhesive, the desired three-dimensional shape can be formed. In the second method, the liquid droplets directly ejected by the inkjet printer, such as photosensitive resin, are directly solidified layer by layer into a three-dimensional shape by means of light and heating.

Another variant of layered manufacturing technology is called laminated solid manufacturing LOM. The principle is to cut the foil according to the layered geometric information of the part. The most commonly used raw material is paper, and the obtained layers are bonded into a three-dimensional solid. When manufacturing, first lay a layer of foil coated with hot melt adhesive, and then use a laser to cut out the outline of this layer under computer control, and all non-part parts are chopped up for easy removal. When one layer is completed, another layer of foil is laid, rolled and heated with a roller to cure the adhesive, so that the newly laid layer is firmly bonded to the formed body, and then the outline of the layer is cut , and so on until the processing is complete, and finally the chopped part is removed to obtain a complete part. In addition to the main methods mentioned above, the realization of layered manufacturing also has selective cladding, also known as welding accumulation.

Traditional rapid prototyping and manufacturing methods suffer from the following problems:

The material of the product is single: in the prior art, it is mostly impossible to include a variety of different functional materials in the same finished product. Some of them can realize multi-material molding, and the types of materials are also very limited. The selective cladding method can only use metal materials with similar melting points in the product, and the fused deposition method FDM can only use different types of high-melt metal materials in the same product. Molecular materials, but none can diversify material types, such as metal-ceramic composites.

Forming shape is limited: Many existing rapid prototyping methods cannot manufacture products of arbitrary complex shapes, such as selective cladding, which is limited by the process of accumulation of molten metal droplets, and cannot manufacture parts containing suspended structures, such as cantilever beams and umbrella structures ; The LOM method cannot manufacture parts containing complex cavities; this greatly limits the products that can be produced by traditional rapid prototyping and manufacturing methods.

Low forming accuracy: Traditional rapid prototyping technologies, such as selective cladding technology, are limited by the free droplet process and cannot achieve accurate three-dimensional forming. The existing multi-metal direct rapid prototyping device based on welding accumulation requires Simultaneously perform high-speed milling during the forming process to improve product accuracy, which again limits the forming shape and increases the difficulty and cost of equipment implementation.

The post-processing is cumbersome: after traditional rapid prototyping, the device needs to manually remove the residual material and support material, which is inefficient and difficult to automate.

Contents of the invention

The object of the present invention is to provide a multi-material rapid prototyping device and method to solve the problems of single product material, limited molding shape and low molding precision in the existing rapid prototyping technology.

The multi-material rapid prototyping device of the present invention includes a frame, a feeding drive machine, a material delivery head, a silo, a recovery cavity, a guide rail, a residual material removal machine, a scraper, a forming cavity, a light source, and a light guide systems, imaging systems and controllers,

A molding cavity is set in the central area of the frame, and the bottom of the molding cavity is supported by a piston that can be controlled to lift; one end of the frame is close to the frame to set a feeding driver, the output end of the feeding driver is connected to the feeding head, and the output of the feeding head The position of the mouth corresponds to the forming cavity; it is located inside the feeding drive machine, and a plurality of silos and recovery cavities are set along the direction parallel to the frame, and each silo is connected to the feeding head through a feeding pipeline;

The other end of the frame is close to the frame and a guide rail is set along the direction parallel to the frame. The residual material removal machine is connected to the guide rail, and the other end of the frame is also equipped with a scraper on the outer frame of the molding cavity;

A light source, a light guide system and an imaging system are set above the molding cavity, and the light emitted by the light source passes through the light guide system and the imaging system in turn, and then irradiates the area to be formed in the current forming layer on the molding cavity;

The controller is used to control the working status of each controlled component.

The multi-material rapid prototyping method described in the present invention includes the following two technical solutions:

The first one is: a multi-material rapid prototyping method, which is realized based on a multi-material rapid prototyping device, and the molding method is a molding method of two structural materials; it includes the following steps:

Step 1: Use graphics software to generate a 3D model of the product to be formed, divide the 3D model into multiple parts, and mark the structural materials used in each part;

Step 2: Save the 3D model as a standard additive manufacturing file format, and record the shape, material and color information of the parts corresponding to the 3D model;

Step 3: Use 3D slicing software to cut and layer the 3D model in Step 2, and then generate a rapid prototyping layered control instruction file according to the structural materials of each layer. The layered control instruction file includes the following information:

a. Beam scanning trajectory or light projection pattern when each layer is solidified or sintered by SLA method;

b. Parameters determined by the forming properties of the structural material of each layer;

c. Parameters determined by the physical and chemical properties of the structural materials of each layer;

Step 4: The controller controls the feeding driver to drive the feeding head, and controls the feeding head to convey the structural material A to the current working area of the forming layer and scrape it, and then control the light source through the light guide system according to the layering control instruction file After determining the current area to be formed with the imaging system, the current area to be formed is sintered or solidified;

Step 5: Use a residual material removal machine to remove residual structural material A;

Step 6: Control the feeding head to transport the structural material B to the current remaining working area of the current forming layer and scrape it flat, and then control the light source through the light guide system and imaging system according to the layering control instruction file to determine the current area to be formed. The current area to be formed is sintered or solidified;

Step 7: Use a residual material removal machine to remove residual structural material B;

Step 8: Control the feeding head to transport the supporting material to the current remaining working area of the current forming layer and level it, and then control the light source through the light guide system and imaging system according to the layering control instruction file to determine the current area to be formed. The area to be formed is sintered or solidified;

Step 9: Lower the molding cavity to a working space of one layer height, and repeat steps 4 to 8 until the entire molding process of the product to be molded is completed;

Step 10: After all the molding of the product to be formed is completed, according to the characteristics of the supporting material, the supporting material is removed by heating, dissolving, corroding, illuminating, peeling or crushing, and the prototype of the product to be formed is completed.

The second type is: a multi-material rapid prototyping method, which is realized based on a multi-material rapid prototyping device, and the molding method is a molding method of two structural materials; it includes the following steps:

Step 1: Use graphics software to generate a 3D model of the product to be formed, divide the 3D model into multiple parts, and mark the structural materials used in each part;

Step 2: Save the 3D model as a standard additive manufacturing file format, and record the shape, material and color information of the parts corresponding to the 3D model;

Step 3: Use 3D slicing software to cut and layer the 3D model in Step 2, and then generate a rapid prototyping layered control instruction file according to the structural materials of each layer. The layered control instruction file includes the following information:

a. Beam scanning trajectory or light projection pattern when each layer is solidified or sintered by SLA method;

b. Parameters determined by the forming properties of the structural material of each layer;

c. Parameters determined by the physical and chemical properties of the structural materials of each layer;

Step 4: The controller controls the feeding driver to drive the feeding head, and controls the feeding head to convey the supporting material to the entire working area of the current forming layer and scrape it flat, and then controls the light source to pass through the light guide system according to the layering control instruction file and imaging system, sinter or solidify the entire working area;

Step 5: The controller controls the light source to pass through the light guide system and the imaging system according to the hierarchical control instruction file, and then selectively vaporizes the molding area of the structural material A in the current entire working area;

Step 6: The controller controls the feeding head to transport the structural material A to the current forming area and scrape it flat, and then make the light source pass through the light guide system and imaging system according to the layered control instruction file, and then sinter or solidify the current forming area;

Step 7: The controller controls the light source to pass through the light guide system and the imaging system according to the hierarchical control instruction file, and then selectively vaporizes the forming area of the structural material B in the current entire working area;

Step 8: The controller controls the feeding head to transport the structural material B to the current forming area and scrape it flat, and then make the light source pass through the light guide system and imaging system according to the layered control instruction file, and then sinter or solidify the current forming area;

Step 9: Lower the molding cavity to a working space of one layer height, and repeat steps 4 to 8 until the entire molding process of the product to be molded is completed;

Step 10: After all the molding of the product to be formed is completed, according to the characteristics of the supporting material, the supporting material is removed by heating, dissolving, corroding, illuminating, peeling or crushing, and the prototype of the product to be formed is completed.

The advantages of the present invention: the device of the present invention is used to produce three-dimensional objects, breaking through the limitations of existing equipment. It makes up for the shortcomings of traditional rapid prototyping technology, realizes rapid prototyping and manufacturing of high-precision composite materials in arbitrary shapes, can significantly expand the range of products produced by rapid prototyping methods, and greatly improve product performance.

The method of the invention can realize the rapid prototyping of the final product composed of various materials through selective sintering, solidification, gasification and combination thereof.

details as follows:

1. Diversification of materials: the present invention can freely combine various structural materials to make products, support the combination of metal materials, sinterable inorganic non-metallic materials, sinterable or solidified polymer materials, such as various metal composite materials, Metal-ceramic chimeric composite materials, metal-polymer chimeric composite materials, inorganic non-metal-polymer chimeric composite materials, etc.

2. Realize the manufacture of products of any shape: the method of the present invention can automatically generate support materials, and can manufacture products of any shape, such as products containing complex cavities or suspended parts.

3. High-precision forming: The forming precision of the present invention is not lower than the typical precision of traditional SLS of about 0.15mm and the typical precision of SLA of 0.02mm, significantly higher than the typical precision of selective cladding of 1mm, and due to the use of sintering or solidification process, There is no ladder effect of FDM or LOM.

4. Simple post-processing: the removal method of the product support material manufactured by the present invention adopts heating, dissolution, corrosion, light, stripping or crushing, etc., which is basically the same as the demoulding process of casting, with simple process, high efficiency and easy automation.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is the structural representation of multiple material rapid prototyping device described in the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of conveying the structural material A to the working area of the current forming layer in the fourth step of the second specific embodiment and leveling it; wherein the right slash indicates the structural material A;

Fig. 3 is a structural schematic diagram of determining the current area to be formed of the structural material A in step 4 of the specific embodiment 2 and performing sintering or solidification; wherein the oblique cross lines indicate the cured structural material A;

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural view after removing residual structural material A in Step 5 of Embodiment 2;

Fig. 5 is a structural schematic diagram of conveying the structural material B to the current remaining working area of the current forming layer in the sixth step of the second specific embodiment and leveling it; wherein the vertical line indicates the structural material B;

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of determining the current area to be formed of the structural material B in Step 6 of the second embodiment and performing sintering or solidification; wherein the grid lines represent the cured structural material B;

Fig. 7 is a schematic view of the structure after removing the residual structural material B in step 7 of the second embodiment;

Fig. 8 is a structural schematic diagram of conveying the support material to the current remaining working area of the current forming layer in the eighth step of the second specific embodiment and leveling it; wherein the left oblique line indicates the support material;

Fig. 9 is a structural schematic diagram of determining the current area to be formed of the support material in Step 8 of the second embodiment and performing sintering or solidification; wherein the gray area with a left slash indicates the cured support material;

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural view of the two molding layers of Embodiment 2 after molding.

Detailed ways

Specific Embodiment 1: The present embodiment will be described below in conjunction with FIG. 1 . The multi-material rapid prototyping device described in the present embodiment includes a frame 1, a feeding drive machine 2, a material delivery head 3, a silo 4, and a recovery chamber. 5. Guide rail 6, residual material removal machine 7, leveling machine 8, molding cavity 9, light source 10, light guide system 11, imaging system 12 and controller,

The central area of the frame 1 is provided with a molding chamber 9, and the bottom of the molding chamber 9 is supported by a piston that can be controlled to lift; one end of the frame 1 is provided with a feeding driver 2 near the frame, and the output end of the feeding driver 2 is connected to the feeding head 3 , the position of the discharge port of the feeding head 3 corresponds to the forming cavity 9; it is located inside the feeding drive machine 2, and a plurality of hoppers 4 and recovery cavities 5 are arranged along the direction parallel to the frame, and each hopper 4 passes through the feeding chamber. The material pipeline is connected to the material delivery head 3;

The other end of frame 1 is near frame and is provided with guide rail 6 along the direction parallel with frame, and residual material removal machine 7 is connected on guide rail 6, and the other end of frame 1 is also provided with scraper 8 on molding cavity 9 peripheral frames;

A light source 10, a light guide system 11, and an imaging system 12 are set above the molding cavity 9, and the light emitted by the light source 10 passes through the light guide system 11 and the imaging system 12 in sequence, and then irradiates the area to be formed that is currently layered on the molding cavity 9 ;

The controller is used to control the working status of each controlled component.

It also includes a temperature control system, which is used for heating or cooling during the molding process of the product to be molded on the molding cavity 9 .

The light source 10 can contain one or more, the light source can be a laser, and its wavelength is required to be 270nm-11μm; it can also be an LED, a metal halide lamp, a high-pressure mercury lamp or a xenon lamp; the light guide system 11 can be refracted, reflected and split. Realize the delivery of the beam, which includes the necessary beam expansion, collimation and convergence components. Both the molding chamber 9 and the imaging system 12 belong to the molding device, and the imaging system 12 can be one or more sets. The molding device also includes a temperature control system with heating and/or cooling functions, and an air purification system. The imaging system works in scanning or projection mode. Scanning can be realized by vibrating mirror, or by moving the beam position output by the light guide system; projection can be achieved by imaging DMD, LCos and other reflective components, or through LCD transmissive components. Device imaging or OLED, fluorescent screen and other self-luminous components imaging. The upper surface of the molding cavity is a working plane, and the space on the upper surface of the molded part on the working plane is a working space. The scraper 8 reciprocates along the guide rail to scrape the working surface.

The feeding device includes more than one silo 4, the controller selects the raw materials in one or more silos, and controls the feeding drive machine 2 to drive the conveying head 3 to transport the raw materials to the working surface and be leveled by the scraper 8. Raw materials can include powder, paste materials and liquid materials, one or more of which are called support materials, and one or more of the other materials are used to form the product structure, called structural materials. The support material has certain phase change characteristics, which can be converted between powder, solid, paste, liquid and gas under the action of temperature, light, electromagnetic field or solvent, and this conversion will not affect the stability of the formed structural material. These phase change characteristics may include lower melting point, heat of fusion, lower sintering temperature or energy, lower boiling point or heat of vaporization, easy to be dissolved by certain solvents, easy to dry to form a solid, easy to be Some solvents are soaked and softened, can be decomposed under the action of visible light or electromagnetic field, and can be transformed from solid to liquid under the action of visible light or electromagnetic field.

The residual material recovery device is composed of a recovery chamber 5 and a residual material removal machine 7. The residual material removal machine 7 removes raw materials in the original state in the working space by blowing, washing or adsorption, and sends them to the recovery chamber. The adsorption can be vacuum adsorption, electrostatic adsorption or magnetic adsorption. The controller selects a corresponding device and method for removing residual materials according to the type of residual materials to be removed. The residue removal machine 7 moves on the guide rail 6 to complete various motion functions.

The controller is used to control the movement of each component, the output power of the light source, the output graphics of the imaging system, the heating power and cooling flow of the temperature control system, the flow/pressure of the blowing device and the shower device, and the input power of the adsorption device.

Specific Embodiment 2: The present embodiment will be described below in conjunction with Fig. 1 to Fig. 10. The multi-material rapid prototyping method described in this embodiment is realized based on a multi-material rapid prototyping device. The molding method has two structures A method of shaping a material; it includes the following steps:

Step 1: Use graphics software to generate a 3D model of the product to be formed, divide the 3D model into multiple parts, and mark the structural materials used in each part;

Step 2: Save the 3D model as a standard additive manufacturing file format, and record the shape, material and color information of the parts corresponding to the 3D model;

Step 3: Use 3D slicing software to cut and layer the 3D model in Step 2, and then generate a rapid prototyping layered control instruction file according to the structural materials of each layer. The layered control instruction file includes the following information:

a. Beam scanning trajectory or light projection pattern when each layer is solidified or sintered by SLA method;

b. Parameters determined by the forming properties of the structural material of each layer;

c. Parameters determined by the physical and chemical properties of the structural materials of each layer;

Step 4: The controller controls the feeding drive machine 2 to drive the feeding head 3, and controls the feeding head 3 to convey the structural material A to the working area of the current forming layer and level it, and then controls the light source 10 according to the layering control instruction file After passing through the light guide system 11 and the imaging system 12, the current area to be formed is determined, and the current area to be formed is sintered or cured;

Step 5: Use the residual material removal machine 7 to remove the residual structural material A;

Step 6: Control the material delivery head 3 to transport the structural material B to the current remaining working area of the current molding layer and level it, and then control the light source 10 through the light guide system 11 and the imaging system 12 according to the layer control instruction file to determine the current waiting area. Forming area, sintering or solidifying the current area to be formed;

Step 7: Use the residual material removal machine 7 to remove the residual structural material B;

Step 8: Control the feeding head 3 to transport the supporting material to the current remaining working area of the current forming layer and level it, and then control the light source 10 through the light guide system 11 and imaging system 12 according to the layering control instruction file to determine the current to-be-molded area, sintering or solidifying the current area to be formed;

Step 9: Lower the molding cavity 9 to a working space of one layer height, repeat steps 4 to 8, until the entire molding process of the product to be molded is completed;

Step 10: After all the molding of the product to be formed is completed, according to the characteristics of the supporting material, the supporting material is removed by heating, dissolving, corroding, illuminating, peeling or crushing, and the prototype of the product to be formed is completed.

Graphics software can use CAD software; the parameters determined by the molding characteristics of structural materials include: temperature, light source power, exposure time, cooling time and scanning beam moving speed and other parameters; the parameters determined by the physical and chemical characteristics of structural materials include: residue removal machine 7. The speed of movement, adsorption power, pressure and flow of blowing or showering, etc.

In this embodiment, step 4 to step 8 are repeated to complete the molding of multiple structural materials in one layer. If the formed structural material does not completely cover the layer, the supporting material is transported to the working space and flattened, and then sintered or cured. Due to the characteristics of the supporting material, this process will not affect the structural material of this layer. When using the scanning method to sinter or solidify the support material by laser, in order to improve the efficiency, after the support material is scraped, the piston of the molding cavity can be lowered for a certain distance to make the laser spot larger and quickly complete the scanning of the entire plane.

When the process requires, the support material adhering to the surface of the structural material during the scraping process can be removed by using the residual material removal machine 7, or it can be removed by laser selective gasification.

Specific Embodiment Three: The present embodiment will be described below in conjunction with FIGS. 1 to 10 . The multi-material rapid prototyping method described in this embodiment is based on a multi-material rapid prototyping device. The forming method has two structures A method of shaping a material; it includes the following steps:

Step 1: Use graphics software to generate a 3D model of the product to be formed, divide the 3D model into multiple parts, and mark the structural materials used in each part;

Step 2: Save the 3D model as a standard additive manufacturing file format, and record the shape, material and color information of the parts corresponding to the 3D model;

Step 3: Use 3D slicing software to cut and layer the 3D model in Step 2, and then generate a rapid prototyping layered control instruction file according to the structural materials of each layer. The layered control instruction file includes the following information:

a. Beam scanning trajectory or light projection pattern when each layer is solidified or sintered by SLA method;

b. Parameters determined by the forming properties of the structural material of each layer;

c. Parameters determined by the physical and chemical properties of the structural materials of each layer;

Step 4: The controller controls the feeding drive machine 2 to drive the feeding head 3, and controls the feeding head 3 to convey the supporting material to the entire working area of the current forming layer and scrape it flat, and then controls the light source 10 according to the layering control instruction file After passing through the light guide system 11 and the imaging system 12, the entire working area is sintered or solidified;

Step 5: The controller controls the light source 10 to pass through the light guide system 11 and the imaging system 12 according to the hierarchical control instruction file, and then selectively vaporizes the forming area of the structural material A in the current entire working area;

Step 6: The controller controls the material delivery head 3 to transport the structural material A to the current molding area and scrape it flat, and then make the light source 10 pass through the light guide system 11 and the imaging system 12 according to the layered control instruction file, and then sinter or sinter the current molding area curing;

Step 7: The controller controls the light source 10 to pass through the light guide system 11 and the imaging system 12 according to the hierarchical control instruction file, and then selectively vaporizes the molding area of the structural material B in the current entire working area;

Step 8: The controller controls the material delivery head 3 to transport the structural material B to the current forming area and scrape it flat, and then make the light source 10 pass through the light guide system 11 and the imaging system 12 according to the layered control instruction file, and then sinter or sinter the current forming area curing;

Step 9: Lower the molding cavity 9 to a working space of one layer height, repeat steps 4 to 8, until the entire molding process of the product to be molded is completed;

Step 10: After all the molding of the product to be formed is completed, according to the characteristics of the supporting material, the supporting material is removed by heating, dissolving, corroding, illuminating, peeling or crushing, and the prototype of the product to be formed is completed.

In Step 4 of this embodiment, the light source 10 can use a laser, and the laser light emitted by the laser passes through the light guide system and then reaches the scanning system of the molding device to sinter or solidify all the raw materials in the working space. When using the scanning method to sinter or solidify the support material by laser, in order to improve the efficiency, after the support material is scraped, the piston of the molding cavity can be lowered for a certain distance to make the laser spot larger and quickly complete the scanning of the entire plane. In Step 5, the laser light emitted by the laser passes through the light guide system and then reaches the scanning system of the forming device to selectively vaporize the forming area of the structural material A in the working space. If the piston position was adjusted in the previous step, the piston should be restored to its original position before selective gasification. Repeat steps 4 to 8 to complete the molding of multiple structural materials in one layer.

The two molding modes of Embodiment 2 and 3 can be combined within a layer and between layers. For example, in a layer, the first mode can be used to complete the molding of several materials, and then the second mode can be used to continue to complete several materials. It is also possible to use one mode to complete the molding of some layers in a product, and use another mode to complete the molding of other layers.

When the method of the present invention is used for molding products of more than two kinds of structural materials, the molding process is similar to the above.

Claims (4)

1. A kind of multiple material rapid prototyping method, this forming method realizes based on multiple material rapid prototyping device, described multiple material rapid prototyping device comprises frame (1), feeding drive machine (2), conveying Material head (3), material bin (4), recovery cavity (5), guide rail (6), residual material removal machine (7), scraper (8), forming cavity (9), light source (10), guide Optical system (11), imaging system (12) and controller, The central area of the frame (1) is provided with a molding chamber (9), and the bottom of the molding chamber (9) is supported by a piston that can be controlled to lift; one end of the frame (1) is provided with a feeding drive (2) close to the frame, and the feeding drive The output end of the machine (2) is connected to the feeding head (3), and the position of the discharge port of the feeding head (3) corresponds to the molding cavity (9); it is located inside the feeding drive machine (2) and is parallel to the frame A plurality of hoppers (4) and recovery chambers (5) are arranged in the direction of the hopper, and each silo (4) is connected to the feeding head (3) through a feeding pipeline; The other end of the frame (1) is close to the frame and a guide rail (6) is arranged along the direction parallel to the frame, the guide rail (6) is connected with the residual material removal machine (7), and the other end of the frame (1) is in the molding cavity (9) A scraper (8) is also arranged on the peripheral frame; A light source (10), a light guide system (11) and an imaging system (12) are arranged above the molding cavity (9), and the light emitted by the light source (10) passes through the light guide system (11) and the imaging system (12) in turn. , irradiating the area to be formed of the current forming layer on the forming cavity (9); The controller is used to control the working status of each controlled component; It also includes a temperature control system, which is used for heating or cooling the product to be formed on the molding cavity (9) during the molding process; It is characterized in that the molding method is a molding method of two structural materials; it includes the following steps: Step 1: Use graphics software to generate a 3D model of the product to be formed, divide the 3D model into multiple parts, and mark the structural materials used in each part; Step 2: Save the 3D model as a standard additive manufacturing file format, and record the shape, material and color information of the parts corresponding to the 3D model; Step 3: Use 3D slicing software to cut and layer the 3D model in Step 2, and then generate a rapid prototyping layered control instruction file according to the structural materials of each layer. The layered control instruction file includes the following information: a. Beam scanning trajectory or light projection pattern when each layer is solidified or sintered by SLA method; b. Parameters determined by the forming properties of the structural material of each layer; c. Parameters determined by the physical and chemical properties of the structural materials of each layer; Step 4: The controller controls the feeding driver (2) to drive the feeding head (3), and controls the feeding head (3) to transport the structural material A to the working area of the current forming layer and scrape it flat, and then according to the layering control The command file controls the light source (10) to determine the current area to be formed after passing through the light guide system (11) and the imaging system (12), and sinters or solidifies the current area to be formed; Step 5: Use the residual material removal machine (7) to remove the residual structural material A; Step 6: Control the feeding head (3) to transport the structural material B to the current remaining working area of the current forming layer and level it, and then control the light source (10) through the light guide system (11) and imaging according to the layering control instruction file After the system (12), the current area to be formed is determined, and the current area to be formed is sintered or solidified; Step 7: Use the residual material removal machine (7) to remove the residual structural material B; Step 8: Control the feeding head (3) to transport the supporting material to the current remaining working area of the current forming layer and scrape it off, and then control the light source (10) to pass through the light guide system (11) and imaging system according to the layering control instruction file (12) Finally, determine the current area to be formed, and sinter or solidify the current area to be formed; Step 9: Lower the molding cavity (9) to a working space of one layer height, and repeat steps 4 to 8 until the entire molding process of the product to be molded is completed; Step 10: After all the molding of the product to be formed is completed, according to the characteristics of the supporting material, the supporting material is removed by heating, dissolving, corroding, illuminating, peeling or crushing, and the prototype of the product to be formed is completed. 2. the multiple material rapid prototyping method according to claim 1, is characterized in that, The imaging system (12) works in scanning or projection mode. 3. A multi-material rapid prototyping method, the forming method is realized based on a multi-material rapid prototyping device, and the multi-material rapid prototyping device includes a frame (1), a feeding drive (2), a conveying Material head (3), material bin (4), recovery cavity (5), guide rail (6), residual material removal machine (7), scraper (8), forming cavity (9), light source (10), guide Optical system (11), imaging system (12) and controller, The central area of the frame (1) is provided with a molding chamber (9), and the bottom of the molding chamber (9) is supported by a piston that can be controlled to lift; one end of the frame (1) is provided with a feeding drive (2) close to the frame, and the feeding drive The output end of the machine (2) is connected to the feeding head (3), and the position of the discharge port of the feeding head (3) corresponds to the molding cavity (9); it is located inside the feeding drive machine (2) and is parallel to the frame A plurality of hoppers (4) and recovery chambers (5) are arranged in the direction of the hopper, and each silo (4) is connected to the feeding head (3) through a feeding pipeline; The other end of the frame (1) is close to the frame and a guide rail (6) is arranged along the direction parallel to the frame, the guide rail (6) is connected with the residual material removal machine (7), and the other end of the frame (1) is in the molding cavity (9) A scraper (8) is also arranged on the peripheral frame; A light source (10), a light guide system (11) and an imaging system (12) are arranged above the molding cavity (9), and the light emitted by the light source (10) passes through the light guide system (11) and the imaging system (12) in turn. , irradiating the area to be formed of the current forming layer on the forming cavity (9); The controller is used to control the working status of each controlled component; It also includes a temperature control system, which is used for heating or cooling the product to be formed on the molding cavity (9) during the molding process; It is characterized in that the molding method is a molding method of two structural materials; it includes the following steps: Step 1: Use graphics software to generate a 3D model of the product to be formed, divide the 3D model into multiple parts, and mark the structural materials used in each part; Step 2: Save the 3D model as a standard additive manufacturing file format, and record the shape, material and color information of the parts corresponding to the 3D model; Step 3: Use 3D slicing software to cut and layer the 3D model in Step 2, and then generate a rapid prototyping layered control instruction file according to the structural materials of each layer. The layered control instruction file includes the following information: a. Beam scanning trajectory or light projection pattern when each layer is solidified or sintered by SLA method; b. Parameters determined by the forming properties of the structural material of each layer; c. Parameters determined by the physical and chemical properties of the structural materials of each layer; Step 4: The controller controls the feeding driver (2) to drive the feeding head (3), and controls the feeding head (3) to transport the supporting material to the entire working area of the current forming layer and scrape it off, and then according to the layering control The command file controls the light source (10) to sinter or solidify the entire working area after passing through the light guide system (11) and the imaging system (12); Step 5: The controller controls the light source (10) to pass through the light guide system (11) and imaging system (12) according to the hierarchical control instruction file, and then selectively vaporizes the molding area of the structural material A in the current entire working area ; Step 6: The controller controls the feeding head (3) to convey the structural material A to the current forming area and scrape it flat, and then make the light source (10) pass through the light guide system (11) and imaging system (12) according to the layered control instruction file , to sinter or solidify the current forming area; Step 7: The controller controls the light source (10) to pass through the light guide system (11) and imaging system (12) according to the hierarchical control instruction file, and then selectively vaporizes the forming area of the structural material B in the current entire working area ; Step 8: The controller controls the feeding head (3) to convey the structural material B to the current forming area and scrape it flat, and then make the light source (10) pass through the light guide system (11) and imaging system (12) according to the layered control instruction file , to sinter or solidify the current forming area; Step 9: Lower the molding cavity (9) to a working space of one layer height, and repeat steps 4 to 8 until the entire molding process of the product to be molded is completed; Step 10: After all the molding of the product to be formed is completed, according to the characteristics of the supporting material, the supporting material is removed by heating, dissolving, corroding, illuminating, peeling or crushing, and the prototype of the product to be formed is completed. 4. The multiple-material rapid prototyping method according to claim 3, characterized in that the imaging system (12) works in a scanning or projection manner.