A method of producing parts from two distinct classes of materials utilizes depositing a first class material and a second class material on a deposition surface where the first class material forms a three-dimensional shape defined by the interface of the first class material and the second class material The first class material is unified and the second class material is removed therefrom to form a three-dimensional part of the first class material Preferably, the first and second class materials are deposited in layers

Method of producing solid parts using two distinct classes of materials

Multiple material solid free-form fabrication by selective area laser deposition

Selective-area laser deposition and selective-area laser-deposition vapor infiltration are two gas-phase solid-freeform techniques capable of the direct fabrication of arbitrary structures. The wide range of available gas precursors allows unique combinations of materials to be achieved in the final shape. Tailoring of the local microstructure can be achieved by carefully controlling processing temperature, gas partial pressure, and other variables. The versatility of the two techniques can be seen in the fabrication of a structure comprising multiple materials.

Using SALDVI and SALD with multi-material structures

Fabrication of a SiC/C thermocouple embedded in an arbitrarily-shaped SiC macro-component has been demonstrated using an integrated Selective Area Laser Deposition (SALD) with the closely related Selective Area Laser Deposition Vapor Infiltration (SALDVI) process. SALD is used to make the embedded thermocouple devices in situ and SALDVI to fabricate the macro-components. The thermocouple elements, silicon carbide and carbon lines, and the electrical insulation layer, Si3N4, have been deposited from tetramethylsilane (TMS), acetylene, and a gas mixture of TMS and ammonia, respectively. It is found that the fabricated in situ thermocouples respond sensitively to temperature variation. Furthermore, the electric signal of the embedded thermocouple is very stable and reproducible in response to thermal cycling. This is not the case when the thermocouple is not embedded in the SiC matrix because of the oxidation of the thermocouple elements.

In Situ Thermocouples in Macro-Components Fabricated Using SALD and SALDVI Techniques. III. Fabrication and Properties of the SiC/C Thermocouple Device

H.L. Marcus

Papers

Solid Freeform Fabrication by Selective Area Laser Deposition