General Electric Company
Method and conformal supports for additive manufacturing

Abstract:

The present disclosure generally relates to methods for additive manufacturing (AM) that utilize conformal support structures in the process of building objects, as well as novel conformal support structures to be used within these AM processes. The conformal support structures include a first portion that extends from a platform to a concave upward surface of the first portion that is below a downward facing convex surface of the object. The concave upward surface corresponds to the downward facing convex surface. The downward facing convex surface of the object is separated from the concave upward surface of the first portion by at least one portion of unfused powder.