Three=dimensional layering - in which transparent sealed cover is used over bath to allow radiation through but exclude ambient atmos.

摘要

To produce a three-dimensional object through stereography, where it is immersed in a bath of a setting material to be bonded in layers through radiation, the surface of the bath is covered at least partially by a flat material which is transparent to the radiation to allow it to pass through into the bath. The bath and its cover, together with the level of the material in the bath, are held in fixed positions, while the radiation is applied by a moving light beam at the bath surface. The cover seals the bath surface against the ambient atmosphere. The radiation effect sets a layer of the material at its surface in the bath, which can be detached from the bath cover without damage or distortion of the layer, or a thin layer is fitted between the cover and the bath surface to prevent adhesion to the cover, using a material for the thin layer of an inert gas or a fluid which is not hardened by the radiation. The material used for the cover and the thin intermediate layer is a film which, after a layer has been set, is moved towards the bath surface by a shear movement from the cover by rotating the object round its axis at right angle to the cover plane. ADVANTAGE - The method gives an accurate and rapid layered build-up into the required three-dimension shape and structure.