Patent ID: 8021139

Claim:
A three-dimensional object forming apparatus forming a three-dimensional object by binding powder particles with a curable liquid, the apparatus comprising: a powder layer forming unit that spreads a powder to a uniform thickness to form a powder layer; a curable liquid ejection head ejecting the curable liquid to the powder layer, the curable liquid ejection head including an ejection nozzle through which the curable liquid is ejected; a sectional data producing device producing sectional data at each of a plurality of cross sections of an intended three-dimensional object according to shape data of the intended three-dimensional object; and a cross-sectional member forming section in which cross-sectional members are formed by ejecting the curable liquid to the powder layer from the curable liquid ejection head according to the sectional data and thus binding the powder layer, the cross-sectional member forming section including a permeation rate controller which is capable of varying the permeation rate of the curable liquid to the powder layer by shielding a portion of the bound powder layer and curable liquid from a means for curing the curable liquid using a shielding portion disposed in the cross-sectional member forming section between the means for curing the curable liquid and the bound powder layer such that the shielding portion is placed beneath the means for curing so as to not be in contact with the curable liquid ejection head.