TWI585558B - Three dimensional printing method - Google Patents

Description

Three-dimensional printing method

The present invention relates to a printing method, and more particularly to a three-dimensional printing method.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, with the increasingly fierce competition and globalization of the world economy, product manufacturers have increasingly needed to create new products that meet the needs of people's consumption in the shortest time to seize the market. In the late 1980s, a rapid prototyping (RP) technology was proposed and gradually developed in this context. Rapid prototyping technology is a layer-by-layer part manufacturing process. Rapid prototyping technology breaks through the traditional material deformation forming and material removal process. The model or mold required for direct production from CAD files using a nearly fully automated process can be significantly reduced. The development time and cost of product prototypes greatly improve the quality of the products; in addition, rapid prototyping technology can produce any complex shape parts without any conventional fixtures, tools or molds in the manufacturing process. Therefore, rapid prototyping technology is becoming more and more competitive in modern manufacturing and is expected to become the mainstream manufacturing technology in the 21st century.

On the other hand, the three-dimensional printing technique is a form of additive manufacturing technology that approximates rapid prototyping technology in which three-dimensional objects are created by successive slitting. Compared with other additive manufacturing technologies, the three-dimensional printing technology has the advantages of high speed, low price, high ease of use, etc. point. A three-dimensional printing machine is a device that can "print" a real three-dimensional object. It uses layered processing and superposition forming, that is, creating a three-dimensional object entity by adding materials layer by layer, which is completely different from the traditional material removal processing technology. On the other hand, the technique of "printing" refers to its technical principle, because the process of layered processing is very similar to the conventional "inkjet printing" technology.

At present, typical stereolithography technologies include: Stereo Lithography Apparatus (SLA), Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), and Fused Deposition (Fused Deposition). Modeling, FDM), etc., in which various methods have their own characteristics and scope of application.

However, for the current three-dimensional printing technology, a plurality of supporting members are required to be printed when the three-dimensional object is printed to support the configuration in which the three-dimensional object is laterally extended and suspended. However, the formation of the support member mostly requires additional cost, which invisibly increases the material cost in the manufacture of the three-dimensional object, causes waste of the printing material, and also consumes a large amount of production time cost.

The present invention provides a three-dimensional printing method to solve the problems caused by the prior art.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a three-dimensional printing method is disclosed, which is suitable for printing a three-dimensional object. The three-dimensional object has a body portion and an extension extending from a side of the body portion. The three-dimensional printing method comprises the following steps. Obtain a stereo model information about the three-dimensional object. Obtaining, according to the stereo model information, an orthographic image on the XY plane of the three-dimensional object and a plurality of sliced objects formed along the Z axis of the three-dimensional object, and generating an XY plane corresponding to the sliced object Multiple 2D image files on. Sequentially each of the two The image file and the orthographic image file are superimposed according to mutually corresponding edges to form a plurality of print patterns, wherein each of the print patterns defines a solid forming area and a stack supporting area. Forming a plurality of forming powder layers composed of the formed powders in sequence, and correspondingly forming the corresponding three-dimensional forming regions on each of the forming powder layers according to the printing patterns to jointly form the three-dimensional objects, and simultaneously forming the three-dimensional objects Forming a corresponding partial edge of the stacked support region on each of the formed powder layers to collectively form a first sidewall spacer and a second sidewall spacer, wherein the first sidewall spacer and the outer edge of the extension portion Separating a first spacing and the second sidewall is spaced apart from the side edge of the extending portion by a second spacing, the printed three-dimensional object and the first sidewall and the second sidewall are not in contact with each other .

In an embodiment of the invention, the three-dimensional printing method further comprises the following steps. When printing is performed on the print image of the two-dimensional image file containing the bottom layer of the sliced object, the stacked support region of the print image file is completely printed to form a first bottom wall.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first bottom wall has at least one perforation extending through the Z-axis.

In an embodiment of the invention, the three-dimensional printing method further comprises the following steps. When the three-dimensional forming area of one of the print patterns overlaps the edge portion of the stacked support area of the print pattern of the previous layer, the print pattern of the first two layers is completely printed The stack of support regions forms a second bottom wall.

In an embodiment of the invention, the three-dimensional printing method further comprises the following steps. Each of the three-dimensional shaped regions is sintered with a first laser having a first optical signal intensity and the corresponding stacked support regions are printed with a second laser having a second optical signal intensity.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first optical signal strength is greater than the second optical signal strength.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first laser or the second laser The beam size is between 1 μm and 1 mm.

In an embodiment of the invention, the shortest straight line distance of each of the first pitches is equal to each of the second pitches.

In an embodiment of the invention, the shortest straight line distance of each of the first pitch or each of the second pitches is 1 μm.

In an embodiment of the invention, each of the shaped powder layers comprises an organic powder or an inorganic powder.

The three-dimensional printing method of the embodiment of the present invention can print a three-dimensional object in a stack according to the three-dimensional forming area of the printing image file, and print the first side wall and the first side wall according to the stacked supporting area while printing the three-dimensional object. The two side wall combined with the uncured shaped powder layer can be used to support the extension of the printed three-dimensional object extending outward from the body portion. Therefore, according to the first side wall and the second side wall printed by the stacked support area, the three-dimensional object is printed to facilitate the smooth and complete forming of the three-dimensional printing method, thereby improving the use and operation of the three-dimensional printing method. Convenience. In addition, since the three-dimensional printing method of the embodiment sinters and prints the first side wall and the second side wall only on the forming powder layer, the unsolidified forming powder layer can be removed after the three-dimensional object printing is completed. The first side wall and the second side wall can be collected and used again on the three-dimensional printing process of other three-dimensional objects, so that the three-dimensional printing method of the embodiment can be used to manufacture the three-dimensional object, which can have better operation convenience. At the same time, the uncured forming powder layer can be reused, thereby avoiding material waste of the forming powder layer, thereby reducing the production cost required for printing the three-dimensional object.

100‧‧‧Three-dimensional printing method

110~140‧‧‧Steps

200‧‧‧Three-dimensional objects

210‧‧‧ Body Department

220‧‧‧Extension

300‧‧‧printing

310‧‧‧Three-dimensional forming zone

320‧‧‧Stacked support area

Section 322‧‧‧

324‧‧‧Scope

400, 500‧‧‧ three-dimensional printing device

402‧‧‧Formed powder layer

410‧‧‧Printing platform

420‧‧‧First side wall

422‧‧‧first spacing

430‧‧‧Second side wall

432‧‧‧second spacing

440‧‧‧ first bottom wall

442‧‧‧Perforation

450‧‧‧ second bottom wall

The description of the present invention and other objects, features, advantages and embodiments will be more apparent and understood. FIG. 1 illustrates a three-dimensional printing method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Step flow chart.

2 is a perspective view showing a three-dimensional object according to the three-dimensional printing method of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing one of the print patterns according to the three-dimensional printing method of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of the method of printing a three-dimensional object according to the three-dimensional printing method of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing another embodiment of printing a three-dimensional object according to the three-dimensional printing method of FIG. 1. FIG.

The above and other technical contents, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention. The directional terms mentioned in the following embodiments, such as "upper", "lower", "front", "back", "left", "right", etc., are only directions referring to the additional schema. Therefore, the directional terminology used is for the purpose of illustration and not limitation. Also, in the following embodiments, the same or similar elements will be given the same or similar reference numerals.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a flow chart of steps of a three-dimensional printing method 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 1 , it should be understood that the three-dimensional printing method described in this embodiment can be applied to a three-dimensional printing device, so that the three-dimensional device can print the three-dimensional model information about a three-dimensional object. Copying the three-dimensional object of the same configuration, wherein the stereo model information can be a digital stereo image file, which can be constructed by a computer host through computer-aided design (CAD) or animation modeling software. The three-dimensional object of the same configuration is printed by the three-dimensional printing device for printing and copying according to the three-dimensional model information. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, this embodiment The three-dimensional object 200 can have a body portion 210 and an extension portion 220 extending from a side of the body portion 210, but is not limited thereto.

Returning to FIG. 1, the three-dimensional printing method 100 of the present embodiment includes the following steps.

Step 110: Obtain stereoscopic model information about the three-dimensional object by using a computer-aided design (CAD) or an animation modeling software.

Step 120: Obtain, according to the stereo model information, an orthographic image on the XY plane of the three-dimensional object and a plurality of sliced objects formed along the Z-axis of the three-dimensional object, and generate a plurality of corresponding objects in the XY plane of the sliced object. Two-dimensional image files. It should be understood that the aforementioned stacked objects are stacked in a corresponding manner to the configuration of the aforementioned three-dimensional object.

In detail, the computer host analyzes the stereo model information and obtains the orthographic image file and several two-dimensional image files about the sliced object. It should be understood that the foregoing two-dimensional image file may be an image file generated by the orthographic projection performed on the X-Y plane of each layer object after the three-dimensional object is simulated and divided into a plurality of sliced objects along the Z-axis. In the present embodiment, the X-Y plane and the Z axis are perpendicular to each other, that is, the normals of the Z axis and the X-Y plane are parallel to each other, but are not limited thereto.

Step 130: sequentially forming each of the two-dimensional image files and the orthographic projection files according to mutually corresponding edges to form a plurality of printing patterns, wherein each of the printing patterns defines a three-dimensional forming area and a stacked supporting area. It should be understood that the three-dimensional forming zone is the information about the corresponding sliced object in each two-dimensional image file. Therefore, the three-dimensional printing device can copy the sliced object according to the information of the two-dimensional image file in the printed image file, and further combine the corresponding sliced object to complete the printing of the three-dimensional object. However, in order to avoid the extension of the extension of the three-dimensional object during the three-dimensional printing process, it is necessary to simultaneously print the support member of the support extension according to the information about the stacked support area in the print image.

In detail, please refer to FIG. 3 , which is shown in accordance with FIG. 1 . A schematic diagram of one of the print patterns described in the body print method. The three-dimensional forming area 310 of each of the printed documents 300 is the orthographic projection information about the sliced object in the corresponding two-dimensional image file. On the other hand, the stacked supporting area 320 of the printing image file 300 is printed for each column. The portion 322 of the file corresponding to the edge of the orthographic projection image minus the three-dimensional forming region 310 is added to the region range 324 for stacking the first side wall 420 and the first pitch 422 (see FIG. 4) which will be described later. It should be understood that the print image file 300 described in this embodiment may be the print image file 300 read by the three-dimensional printing device when the second sliced object is correspondingly printed in FIG. 4, that is, The print image file 300 of the second sliced object from the printing platform upward is not limited thereto.

Step 140: sequentially stacking a plurality of forming powder layers composed of the formed powder, and correspondingly forming corresponding solid forming regions on each of the forming powder layers according to the printing pattern to collectively form a three-dimensional object, and simultaneously, And forming a first side wall and a second side wall together on each of the forming powder layers to form a first side wall and a second side wall, wherein the first side wall is spaced apart from the outer edge of the extending portion by a first interval and the second side The wall is spaced apart from the side edge of the body portion by a second distance, and the printed three-dimensional object and the first side wall and the second side wall are not in contact with each other.

In detail, referring to FIG. 4, the forming powder is applied layer by layer on the printing platform 410 of the three-dimensional printing device 400 to form the forming powder layer 402, and one by one according to the information provided by the printing image file, one by one. A solid shaped article 200 is collectively formed by solidifying a corresponding three-dimensional shaped region on each of the formed powder layers 402. In this embodiment, on each of the forming powder layers, each of the three-dimensional forming regions may be sintered using a first laser having a first optical signal intensity and sintered by a second laser having a second optical signal intensity. The corresponding stacking support area is printed, wherein the first optical signal intensity is greater than the second optical signal intensity, that is, the embodiment can use the best optical signal intensity laser to print the three-dimensional object 200, and at the same time, The weaker optical intensity of the laser prints the support member for supporting the extension 210 of the three-dimensional object 200, thereby saving the energy of the overall laser emission. Reduce the cost of printing. It should be appreciated that the aforementioned support members for supporting the extensions 210 of the three-dimensional article 200 may be a first sidewall spacer 420, a second sidewall spacer 430, and a formed powder layer 402 that is stacked without being sintered.

In detail, the beam size of the first laser or the second laser may be between 1 μm and 1 mm; the resolution of the three-dimensional object printed by the first laser column may be 100 dpi or more; the first laser or the second mine The shot may be one or a combination of a diode laser, a gaseous laser, a fiber laser, a solid state laser, or a semiconductor laser, but is not limited thereto. In addition, the first laser or the second laser may be transmitted in a continuously fusing mode or a pulse fusing mode, but is not limited thereto.

Further, corresponding to the information of each of the printed patterns, when the corresponding three-dimensional forming regions are solidified on the forming powder layer 402 to jointly form the three-dimensional object 200, simultaneously, the corresponding stack is solidified on the forming powder layer 402. Part of the edge of the support area (that is, the part included in the stack support area for forming the first side wall 420 and the second side wall 430), and all the cuts are completed according to the information of all the printed documents. When the three-dimensional object 200 is formed by layering the object, portions of the edge of the corresponding stacked support region are solidified to form the first sidewall 420 and the second spacer 430, wherein the first sidewall 420 and the outside of the extension 220 The edge is spaced apart from the first spacing 422 and the second sidewall spacer 430 is spaced apart from the side edge of the body portion 210 adjacent the extension portion 220 by a second spacing 432. It should be understood that the printed three-dimensional object 200 and the first sidewall spacer 420 and the second side are The walls 430 are not in contact with each other, and the first spacing 422 and the second spacing 432 are filled with the uncured shaped powder so that the three-dimensional object 200 can be easily removed from the printing platform 410 after printing is completed. In this embodiment, the shortest linear distance of each first spacing 422 may be equal to each second spacing 432. In addition, the shortest linear distance of each first spacing 422 or each second spacing 432 may also be 1 μm, but Not all of them are limited to this.

Further, when printing according to the printing image of the two-dimensional image file containing the bottom layer of the sliced object, it means that the printing is printed on the screen. When the powder layer is formed on the platform 410, the stacked support area of the printed image file can be completely printed to form the first bottom wall 440, which can increase the stability and support of the overall supporting member of the extending portion 220 of the supporting three-dimensional object 200. strength. On the other hand, in some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 5, the first bottom wall 440 can also have perforations 442 that extend through the Z-axis. When the sintered support member that supports the extension 220 of the three-dimensional object 200 is removed after the printing of the three-dimensional object 200 is completed, the formed powder that is not sintered and printed may be discharged from the perforation 442 to facilitate the collection and formation of the formed powder. use.

In addition, when the three-dimensionally formed area of one of the print patterns overlaps the edge portion of the stacked support area of the print pattern of the previous layer, that is, the slice having the extension 220 is printed for the first time. Before the object, the stacked support area of the printed image file including the sliced object of the first two layers thereof is completely printed to form the second bottom wall 450, and the support member supporting the extending portion 220 of the three-dimensional object 200 may be further added. The degree of stability and the strength of the support, and at the same time, before the first slice of the sliced object having the extension 220, the stacked support area of the printed image of the sliced object of the previous layer of the sliced object is only the sintered column When a portion of the first spacer 420 that is separated from the three-dimensional object 200 by the first spacing 422 and not in contact with the three-dimensional object 200 is printed, such that the first of the sliced objects including the extension 220 is printed It can be completely carried on the forming powder layer 402 formed by the unsintered shaped powder, so that the extending portion 220 of the three-dimensional object 200 can be stably carried on the supporting member when printing, and the three-dimensional object 200 is printed after completion. Can be removed smoothly, Free-dimensional objects 200 and its support member by sintering inadvertent adhesion problems can not be removed successfully finished produced.

It should be understood that each of the shaped powder layers 402 may comprise an organic powder or an inorganic powder, that is, the shaped powder forming the shaped powder layer 402 may be an organic powder or may be an inorganic powder, but is not limited thereto.

It will be apparent from the above-described embodiments of the present invention that the application of the present invention has the following advantages. The three-dimensional printing method of the embodiment of the invention can be based on the printing of the image file The body forming zone stacks the three-dimensional object, and the first side wall and the second side wall printed according to the stacked support area are combined with the uncured forming powder layer to support the printing while printing the three-dimensional object. An extension of the three-dimensional object extending outward from the body portion. Therefore, according to the first side wall and the second side wall printed by the stacked support area, the three-dimensional object is printed to facilitate the smooth and complete forming of the three-dimensional printing method, thereby improving the use and operation of the three-dimensional printing method. Convenience. In addition, since the three-dimensional printing method of the embodiment sinters and prints the first side wall and the second side wall only on the forming powder layer, the unsolidified forming powder layer can be removed after the three-dimensional object printing is completed. The first side wall and the second side wall can be collected and used again on the three-dimensional printing process of other three-dimensional objects, so that the three-dimensional printing method of the embodiment can be used to manufacture the three-dimensional object, which can have better operation convenience. At the same time, the uncured forming powder layer can be reused, thereby avoiding material waste of the forming powder layer, thereby reducing the production cost required for printing the three-dimensional object.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and the present invention can be modified and modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The scope is subject to the definition of the scope of the patent application attached.

100‧‧‧Three-dimensional printing method

110~140‧‧‧Steps

Claims (10)

A three-dimensional printing method is suitable for printing a three-dimensional object, the three-dimensional object has a body portion and an extension extending from a side of the body portion, the three-dimensional printing method comprises: acquiring a three-dimensional object about the three-dimensional object Model information; according to the stereo model information, acquiring an orthographic image on the XY plane of the three-dimensional object and a plurality of sliced objects formed on the three-dimensional object and along the Z-axis, and generating corresponding slice objects a plurality of two-dimensional image files on the XY plane; sequentially forming each of the two-dimensional image files and the orthographic projection files according to mutually corresponding edges to form a plurality of print patterns, wherein each of the columns The printing file defines a three-dimensional forming zone and a stacking supporting zone; and sequentially stacking a plurality of forming powder layers composed of the formed powder, and correspondingly curing the forming powder layer according to the printing patterns And correspondingly forming the three-dimensional forming area to jointly form the three-dimensional object, and simultaneously forming a corresponding partial edge of the stacked supporting area on each of the forming powder layers to jointly form a first side wall and a second side a wall, wherein the first side wall is spaced apart from the outer edge of the extending portion by a first distance and the second side wall is spaced apart from the side edge of the extending portion by a second distance, and the three-dimensional object is printed The first side wall and the second side wall are not in contact with each other. The three-dimensional printing method of claim 1, further comprising: printing the printing image completely according to the printing document of the two-dimensional image file of the bottom layer of the sliced object; The stacked support area of the image is printed to form a first bottom wall. The three-dimensional printing method of claim 2, wherein the first bottom wall has at least one perforation extending along the Z-axis. The three-dimensional printing method of claim 1, further comprising: when the one of the plurality of print patterns is in the three-dimensional forming area and the edge of the stack supporting area of the printing pattern of the previous layer When partially overlapping, the stacked support region of the print pattern of the sliced object of the first two layers thereof is completely printed to form a second bottom wall. The three-dimensional printing method of claim 1, further comprising: printing each of the three-dimensional forming regions with a first laser having a first optical signal intensity and having a second optical signal intensity The two lasers sinterly print the corresponding stacked support regions. The three-dimensional printing method of claim 5, wherein the first optical signal intensity is greater than the second optical signal intensity. The three-dimensional printing method of claim 5, wherein the first laser or the second laser has a signal beam size of between 1 μm and 1 mm. The three-dimensional printing method of claim 1, wherein a shortest straight line distance of each of the first pitches is equal to each of the second pitches. The three-dimensional printing method according to claim 1, wherein the shortest straight line distance of each of the first pitch or each of the second pitches is 1 μm. The three-dimensional printing method according to claim 1, wherein each of the formed powder layers comprises an organic powder or an inorganic powder.