Layered Manufacturing by Electrophotographic Printing

A layered manufacturing technique that uses electrophotography is described where powder is picked up and deposited using a charged photoconducting surface and deposited layer by layer on a build platform. A test bed was designed and constructed to study the application of electrophotography to layered manufacturing. The test bed can precisely deposit powder in the desired shape on each layer. The feasibility of printing powder layer by layer was demonstrated. The electric field required to transfer the powder on to the platform (or onto previously printed layers) was studied. It was found that corona charging the top layer of the part is necessary to continue printing powder as the part height increases.