Patent ID: 11919232
Assignee: SABIC GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES B.V.
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. A process for shaping a polymeric object, the process comprising the steps of:
(a) providing a substantially flat horizontally positioned layer of a material, the layer being a film or sheet;
(b) providing a layer of a thermoplastic powder onto the substantially flat horizontally positioned layer provided under (a);
(c) exposing a pre-defined part of the thermoplastic powder to irradiation to heat the pre-defined part of the thermoplastic powder to a temperature at which the thermoplastic fuses or sinters onto at least a part of the substantially flat horizontally positioned layer of material;
(d) terminating the exposure to irradiation;
(e) providing a further layer of the thermoplastic powder onto the layer provided in the previous step of providing a layer of the thermoplastic powder;
(f) exposing a pre-defined part of the thermoplastic powder of the layer provided under (e) to irradiation to heat the pre-defined part of the thermoplastic powder to a temperature at which the thermoplastic fuses or sinters onto at least a part of the flat layer of the material fused under the previous step of fusing or sintering;
(g) terminating the exposure to irradiation;
(h) repeating steps (e)-(g) for as many cycles as required to complete the shape of the desired polymeric object;
(i) removing a fraction of the thermoplastic powder that has not been fused or sintered; and
(j) optionally removing the substantially flat horizontally positioned layer as provided under (a) from the polymeric object;
wherein the surface area of the substantially flat horizontally positioned layer of material is larger than the surface area of the layer produced under steps (c)-(h) having the largest surface area, wherein the process involves repeating steps (a)-(h) after step (h) for one or more further cycles, wherein the substantially flat horizontally positioned layer(s) of a material provided in the subsequent cycle(s) (a)-(h) is(are) positioned on top of the fused thermoplastic obtained from the preceding step (h).