Abstract: A powder rapid prototyping apparatus includes a decompressable chamber, a thin layer forming section which supplies powder material from a powder material housing container provided in the chamber to form a thin layer of the powder material, an energy beam source for heating which outputs energy beam for heating which sinters or melts and models the thin layer of the powder material, and a control section which controls the modeling, wherein the control section exposes the powder material to the decompressed atmosphere before starting modeling, and houses the powder material in the powder material housing containers in a divided manner.

Abstract: A powder rapid prototyping method includes steps of forming a thin layer 35a of a powder material, irradiating a heating energy beam to a specific region of the thin layer 35a of the powder material to thereby form a preliminary heating layer 35c whose temperature is elevated, and irradiating the heating energy beam to an inside region of the preliminary heating layer 35c whose temperature is elevated to melt and then solidify the thin layer 35a of the powder material to thereby form a solidified layer, wherein the respective steps are repeatedly implemented to fabricate a rapid prototyping model 51, 52.

Abstract: A powder rapid prototyping apparatus includes a decompressable chamber, a thin layer forming section which supplies powder material from a powder material housing container provided in the chamber to form a thin layer of the powder material, an energy beam source for heating which outputs energy beam for heating which sinters or melts and models the thin layer of the powder material, and a control section which controls the modeling, wherein the control section exposes the powder material to the decompressed atmosphere before starting modeling, and houses the powder material in the powder material housing containers in a divided manner.