IPG Photonics Corporation
Multiple beam additive manufacturing

Abstract:

Systems and methods for multiple beam additive manufacturing use multiple beams of light (e.g., laser light) simultaneously to expose layers of powder material in selected regions until the powder material fuses to form voxels, which form build layers of a three-dimensional structure. The light may be generated from selected light sources and coupled into an array of optical fibers having output ends arranged in an optical head such that the multiple beams are directed by the optical head to different locations on each of the powder layers. The multiple beams may provide distributed exposures forming a distributed exposure pattern including beam spots that are spaced sufficiently to separate the fused regions formed by each exposure. The multiple beams may be moved using various techniques (e.g., by moving the optical head) and according to various scan patterns such that a plurality of multiple beam distributed exposures form each build layer.