Patent ID: 9636869
Date: 2017-05-02
CPC Classifications: B22F,B29C,B33Y,F16L,Y02P

Claim:
1. An additive layer manufacturing method for producing a three-dimensional object, wherein in the method a plurality of layers of a powder material are applied one after another and one on top of another to a carrier and each layer is irradiated, before a following layer is applied, with a laser beam or particle beam selectively only in areas of the layer which correspond to the three-dimensional object to be produced, wherein the irradiation takes place such that the powder material in the corresponding areas is locally melted or sintered, wherein: the object has a first portion, a second portion and a support structure between the first and the second portion, which connects the first and the second portion to one another, wherein in the course of the layer-by-layer construction of the object the first portion is constructed before the second portion or the first portion is provided as a separate component, on which the support structure and the second portion are constructed; and in the method the support structure is constructed in a form of a plurality of support legs, which extend in each case from the first portion to the second portion and are connected to these at their opposite ends and are spaced apart from one another at least along part of their length.