Covering All Technology and Application Areas of Additive Fabrication Including:
RAPID PROTOTYPING 3D PRINTING RAPID TOOLING RAPID MANUFACTURING

Tooling

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From Update 69 - 12/7/11 to 3/6/12:

The General Electric Company has a applied for patents on additive methods of making stator bar tooling. Stator bars are what amounts to the very large wires in which electric power is produced by a generator. The company has also applied for patents on making parts for the turbines for power generators using additive technologies this period. See Fig. 8.
Panasonic Electric Works Co., Ltd. (Japan) describes methods of making injection molds using laser sintering and related technologies in its patent application. Only portions of the mold where pressure, heat and cooling are active are fabricated at high density. The rest of the mold can be fabricated at lower densities to save money, time and also to lower the possibility of warping.

From Update 67 - 6/7/11 to 9/7/11:

Nederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek (TNO) (Netherlands) has been granted a patent for a method of high speed metal extrusion. Laser sintering is used to form a die with conformal cooling placed near the extrusion passage.
National Oilwell Varco, L.P. describes the use of additive methods to create thermally conductive sand molds for manufacturing matrix bits in its patent application. Controlling heat flow to differentially cool the mold limits differential shrinking and internal stress concentrations.

From Update 66 - 3/8/11 to 6/7/11:

A patent issued to Geodigm Corp. describes the use of additive technologies to make wax sprue formers for casting. Dental items are the likely application within Geodigm, of course, but the technique is of greater general interest. The company recently merged with National Dentex Corporation.

From Update 58 - 3/10/09 to 6/9/09:

Daimler AG (Germany) has been granted a patent for a ceramic metal casting mold. The porous mold is said to be capable of precision casting fine steel parts and has the same thermal coefficient of expansion as the steel itself. See Fig. 7.

From Update 54 - 3/4/08 to 6/10/08:

Two patent applications have been published this period concerning the fabrication of extrusion dies. One application uses additive fabrication to make cooling features to avoid hot cracking problems. A second patent application from Corning Inc. describes the advantages of the geometric freedom of additive fabrication in making extrusion dies for honeycombs and other filtration-related devices. See Fig. 6.

From Update 49 - 12/5/06 to 3/6/07:

Extrude Hone Corp. and General Motors Corp. are the assignees, or likely assignees, for two patent applications that describe the use of additive fabrication to make injection molds for expanded polystyrene foam parts. Such molds require numerous small vents for releasing steam which are easier to fabricate with additive technology. See Fig. 6.