TECHNOLOGY >
Meltio’s Program
Meltio delivers advanced manufacturing solutions for the manufacturing of metal components, based on a new disruptive technology named Laser Metal Deposition – Wire Powder (LMD-WP) (Fig.1). LMD refers to a welding process where a material is introduced into a melt pool, created by a high-power laser. LMD falls into the range of Directed Energy Deposition (DED) processes. Typically, the filler material introduced is a powder and is injected through a conical ring nozzle around the laser beam. The added material creates a weld bead which then coats the underlying metal. Compared to other types of welding, LMD results in a smaller heat-affected zone, lower dilution, and lower residual stresses in the components.
Meltio delivers advanced manufacturing solutions for the manufacturing of metal components, based on a new disruptive technology named Laser Metal Deposition – Wire Powder (LMD-WP) (Fig.1). LMD refers to a welding process where a material is introduced into a melt pool, created by a high-power laser. LMD falls into the range of Directed Energy Deposition (DED) processes. Typically, the filler material introduced is a powder and is injected through a conical ring nozzle around the laser beam. The added material creates a weld bead which then coats the underlying metal. Compared to other types of welding, LMD results in a smaller heat-affected zone, lower dilution, and lower residual stresses in the components.
Patented multi-mode laser head
Powder deposition
Wire deposition
Furthermore, the available high laser power, multiple wire feeders, and hot wire-feed options provide high material deposition rates while retaining the precision and resolution of a laser process (Fig. 3). The technology can also perform other functions such as metal coating, texturing, polishing, and cutting, without requiring external equipment.
Example parts fabricated using Meltio’s technology out of alloys of steel, titanium, and nickel
Process stability is the most important aspect for the development of our printers. As wire-based coaxial deposition is not as common as powder LMD, we developed our own process control structure that not only adjusts the processing parameters on the fly, but also measures the height of the individual layers, and adjusts nozzle-to-part distance automatically. To grant users maximum flexibility, all process parameters can be set in G-Code. A macro utility is provided to easily change parameters for certain sections of a build. Due to this closed loop control, the print quality is very high in both the wire and powder modes (Fig. 5). The printer can be controlled either via a locally hosted web interface, or through USB.
Components fabricated with closed loop control system
