May 2024 Volume 6

EQUIPMENT & TECHNOLOGY

How is Laser-Wire Metal DED Best Applied in a Forging Operation? By Rick Neff and John Petti

Laser-wire metal additive manufacturing

While additive manufacturing (also commonly known as 3D printing) is growing, many in the forging industry would have no use for a desktop printer that makes plastic parts. Well, what about a metal printer? DED, or Directed Energy Deposition, is a flexible form of additive manufacturing. It can be used to make parts, or it can be used to clad or weld. It is a laser welding operation inside a machine tool. The laser community has been using cladding and welding for many years. The earliest systems used metal powder as feedstock. Metal powder is expensive and can be dangerous to handle. Systems that use wire as a feedstock are becoming more popular for a couple of key reasons: wire is much less expensive than powder and does not pose powder’s inhalation or explosion hazard. Mitsubishi Electric, known globally for its laser cutting and elec trical discharge machining (EDM) systems, developed the AZ600 laser-wire metal additive system that has multiple applications in a forging house:

Forging dies: Often, the forging process is an iterative process where the die is designed, built, and tested on real metal blanks. After checking the resulting parts, the tool may need to be modified. It is not too difficult to remove some metal via machining or EDM. The issue is when material has to be added to the die. Laser-wire DED can, through a welding process, deposit new material right where needed. DED can deposit almost any weldable metal, including hard metals like Stellite or tool steel. There is no need to make a whole new die and the first die can be modified to optimize the process. Using this method, dies can be built from softer, less expensive steel and clad with a wear-resistant metal. DED can reduce the expense of the material needed to build a die. Another issue faced is worn dies. The cladding capability of the AZ600 can be used to add hardened material to a worn part of a die so it can continue to make good forgings. The unique welding head and a 5-axis motion system can repair even deep, narrow sections of a forging die.

FIA MAGAZINE | MAY 2024 16