Apparatus and process for producing additive manufactured metal matrix composites and article of manufacture thereof

Abstract

A method, product, apparatus, and article of manufacture for the application of the Composite Based Additive Manufacturing (CBAM) method to produce objects in metal, and in metal fiber hybrids or composites. The approach has many advantages, including the ability to produce more complex geometries than conventional methods such as milling and casting, improved material properties, higher production rates and the elimination of complex fixturing, complex tool paths and tool changes and, for casting, the need for patterns and tools. The approach works by slicing a 3D model, selectively printing a fluid onto a sheet of substrate material for each layer based on the model, flooding onto the substrate a powdered metal to which the fluid adheres in printed areas, clamping and aligning a stack of coated sheets, heating the stacked sheets to melt the powdered metal and fuse the layers of substrate, and removing excess powder and unfused substrate.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A three-dimensional article of manufacture comprising a plurality of substrate layers that are infiltrated or coated by, and bound together by, a hardened material, such that the hardened material has a material composition that is different from the material composition of any of the plurality of substrate layers, wherein the hardened material comprises metal, wherein all of the plurality of substrate layers have a substantially identical material composition and each substrate layer is a sheet-like structure that has a material composition comprising fibers held together by a binder. 
     
     
         2 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the hardened material further comprises flux. 
     
     
         3 . The article of manufacture of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate layer material composition includes fibers selected from the group consisting of carbon fibers, ceramic fibers, polymer fibers, glass fibers, and metal fibers. 
     
     
         4 . The article of manufacture of  claim 1 , wherein the metal comprises one or more of aluminum, steel, stainless steel, copper, brass and titanium. 
     
     
         5 . a three-dimensional article of manufacture made by the process comprising:
 reading a file of layers of the 3-D object, layer by layer, each layer having a shape;   for each layer, printing a fluid selectively onto a sheet of substrate material, the printing on each said sheet of substrate material representing the shape of that layer;   flooding through a trough onto each sheet of substrate material a powdered metal that adheres to the selectively printed fluid on each sheet of the substrate material as a printed shape to create at least one powdered sheet;   removing excess powder from each powdered sheet as each powdered substrate sheet is first printed and subsequently flooded with said powdered metal; and   stacking the powdered sheets in registered alignment, after excess powder removal, to form a stack of said powdered sheets, wherein each sheet in the stack of powdered sheets corresponds to a layer in the file of layers.