Claims
- 1. A system for controlling the build-up of material on a substrate to fabricate an article, comprising:
a memory for storing a description of the article to be fabricated; a controllable laser outputting a focused beam having a nominal diameter directed at a localized region of the substrate to form a melt pool thereon; a material feeder for delivering material into the melt pool so as to create a deposit having a physical attribute in accordance with the description of the article; and one or more adjustable optical elements to modify the diameter of the focussed laser beam.
- 2. The system of claim 1, including at least two optical elements which are adjustable relative to one another.
- 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the optical elements may be changed during the deposition process to adapt for road width.
- 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the adjustment of the optical elements is stored in conjunction with the description of the article to be fabricated.
- 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the optical elements may be used to shape the laser beam in one or more of the following ways:
a) uniform Square Beam with uniform power density, b) circular beam with Gaussian distribution, c) linear beam perpendicular to the beam traverse path, d) linear beam in the direction of the beam traverse path, or e) rectangular beam path.
- 6. The system of claim 1, further including at least one vibrating or oscillating element perpendicular to the beam traverse direction to adapt for road width.
- 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the amplitude of the oscillation determines the road width.
- 8. The system of claim 1, wherein a smaller road width is used during deposition and larger road width is used to relieve stress accumulation.
- 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the larger road width is used without powder.
- 10. The system of claim 8, wherein the larger road width is carried out at a reduced power density.
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/292,581, filed May 22, 2001; the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60292581 |
May 2001 |
US |