Importance

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Abstract

A process for making a component includes the steps of: depositing a layer of a porous material; positioning a mask near to the deposited layer; applying a bonding material that will cause any contacted portions of the porous material to become bonded together, over and through the mask, such that the bonding material is applied to one or more selected regions of the recently deposited layer of porous material; and repeating the foregoing three steps a selected number of times to produce a selected number of successive layers, said bonding material causing each of said successive layers to become bonded to an adjacent layer. Any unbonded porous material that is not at the selected regions is easily removed. The mask may be an open stencil mask, or a screen mask. If open stencil masks are used, there may be more than one mask for a single layer of porous material. Successive masks may be positioned by a continuous sheet, a rotating disk, or individually, such as by a robot. The porous material may be metallic or ceramic or plastic, and it may be loose powder or loosely bonded powder. The bonding material may be applied as droplets or a jet. Droplets may be applied by sonic or ultrasonic atomizer, through a nozzle, a simple orifice, or by an electrostatic arrangement, such as in electrostatic painting. The mask may be positioned in contact with the powder material or spaced away therefrom.

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First Claim