Importance

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Abstract

A solid freeform fabrication method and related apparatus for fabricating a three-dimensional object from successive layers of a primary body-building powder material and a binder powder in accordance with a computer-aided design of the object, the method including: (a) providing a work surface; (b) feeding a first layer of the primary body-building powder material to the work surface; (c) operating an electrophotographic powder deposition device to create a binder powder image in accordance with this design; (d) transferring this binder powder image to the first layer of body-building powder; (e) applying energy sources to fuse the binder powder, forming a binder fluid to permeate through the first layer of body-building powder for bonding and consolidating the powder particles to form a first cross-section of the object; (f) feeding a second layer of the primary body-building powder onto the first layer and repeating the operating, transferring, and applying steps to form a second cross-section of the object; (g) repeating the feeding, operating, transferring, and applying steps to build successive layers in a layer-wise fashion in accordance with the design for forming the multiple-layer object; and (h) removing un-bonded powder particles, causing the 3-D object to appear.

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First Claim